Final Promotional Package

Poster













Trailer

















Website

Evaluation Question 1 In What Way Does Your Media Product Use, Challenge and Develop Conventions of Real Media Products

VIEW OUR EARLIER POST ON THE CONVENTIONS OF DYSTOPIAN AND THRILLER FILMS

Evaluation Question 2: How effective is the combination of your main product and your ancillary tasks?

Evaluation Question 3: What Have You Learned From Your Audience Feedback?

Evaluation Question 4: How did you use media technologies in the construction, research, planning and evaluation stages?

Influence of Black Mirror on our product

In the TV series created by Charlie Brooker, this image was used as an ident in between advertisements in a subliminal messaging method. This also linked to the This is a direct link to our theme of control and manipulation. 

We liked this link because it allowed the audience to feel that they were being manipulated as well. We want our audience to feel that they are being manipulated because it will make them relate to the character of Charlie more. Having this on television will generate interest in the film to a wider audience and because it's so ambiguous it will lead to people trying to find out what it means. 

We created a couple of different logos and chose this one as it's the most simple, to be the ident we would put on television:

Other ideas where: 

Final Poster

This is the final version of our poster for the film 'VALEO'. We used the same thin blue font for the tagline as in the website and the same still of the title as in the trailer and on the website.
We added our billing block from the trailer onto the bottom and the certification '15' for our film.

Final Website

For our final website design we used the exact same still of the political leader from the trailer as we did on the poster for continuity.
We also used the same font and colour for the text as in the trailer and poster. We embedded the trailer onto the website by putting it on YouTube and then wix.com allowed us to embed the video. We added Facebook and Twitter icons to the top of the website to allow visitors to find our social networking pages.
We used thin blue font and thin blue lines for the tabs at the top of the page to link with the blue of the title and the cold blue wash in the trailer and the image for the trailer and background of the website, we also used this in the font of the tagline.
We also hid small hype social networking icons on the website so that those interested in the film and looking at the website might find it and feel special that they've found them when they were hidden.
We added reviews to the website from 'Empire Magazine', 'The Telegraph' and 'Total Film Magazine'. These  will generate more interest in the film and people who read these productions would take their review seriously because they come from credible sources.

http://dotcoma2media.wix.com/valeo-film 

Valeo Video - Development

Production Company

From looking at existing media texts we found that every film has a production company. These include large companies such as Warner Bros and Disney, but there are also small production companies which are less well known. The name of the production company is most often found towards the beginning of the trailer and they almost always have an animation. For our film we decided to create our own production company animation for our trailer.
Creating our own production company animation makes out film seem more realistic and we decided to call it 'Dot Com Films' because this links in with the main theme, of technology and the internet, in our film. The words 'Dot Com Films' in black being put over and over each other makes it

Final Storyboard

Composition of the Poster & Website

We chose this still of the political leader from the trailer for the background of our poster and website because of the under lighting of the face which contrasts the black of the back drop. The expression on his face looks aggressive and powerful and the shadow of his glasses makes him look angry. 

The composition of the still having the leader on the left of the photo and the space on the right makes it look like he needs someone else there next to him, inviting the viewer of the VALEO video ('The Time Is Now') to side with him and therefore makes them want to follow the movement, accentuating the themes of manipulation in the film. 

Costumes

 For the character of Megan:

We decided the costume should consist of jeans and a hoodie, so it would be practical and make her look like a strong, powerful and atypical female character. This presents more of a masculine role, which the Converse and colour of clothing add to. We chose the top because it was simple and not revealing, again showing her lack of femininity. 
For the character Charlie:

We decided to have Charlie as a feminine character, wearing a skirt and brighter colours to show the contrast in characters between Megan and Charlie. Her femininity is also shown by her long blonde hair. This costume indicates that she is more susceptible to being controlled as the more feminine are often thought to be weaker.

The shoes of Charlie represent her strength and the military style is a reference to her conformity to the anti-government party.

Reason for the name 'VALEO'

The name of the opposing organisation needed to appropriately reflect its strength and control.

We therefore chose the name 'Valeo' (Latin for power, strength and influence) to portray these qualities.

First Storyboard

Trailer Final Cut

This is the final cut of our trailer.

Hype for VALEO

To promote the release of the film 'VALEO' a Facebook page and Twitter have been created to make people think that VALEO is a real organisation.

Twitter:

 Facebook Page: 

For these pages we created variations on the image of the leader with the text 'VALEO':

Third Draft of 'VALEO'

This is our most recent cut of the trailer. This includes 'COMING SOON' and our Billing Block. 

Feedback for the Second Draft

Things that need adding:

• Stock footage of rioting to show that it's spread nationwide
• 'COMING SOON'
• Billing Block
• More white noise
• More shots around
• More anchorage
• Production company

The New VALEO Video

This was our original VALEO video: 

Our audience feedback told us that the leader of the group 'VALEO' in this video was too young to be convincing and his voice wasn't forceful and strident enough to lead a revolution. 

We need the leader of the group to be convincing because in the film he would be taking over the whole country and if he couldn't convince the viewers of the trailer then there is no way that it'd be believable that he could control the minds of a country. 

We chose a new leader who was sterner looking and more mature but kept the same music (land of hope and glory). 

Feedback from First Draft

This is the first draft of our trailer: 

To find out what we needed to change for our second draft we uploaded our first cut to YouTube and asked a couple of people what they thought. 

Positive Feedback

• What the political figure at the beginning is saying is 'powerful & convincing' and makes viewers feel 'patriotic and emotional' 
• The characters look right for their roles
• The anchorage 'what happens when internet freedom becomes internet control' looks really good with the letters being typed into Google
• The shot of Charlie watching the 'VALEO' video at the beginning links her with the video well
• The background music (land of hope and glory) to the 'VALEO' video evokes the viewer's patriotism

Creative Criticism 

• The political figure is too young and not forceful enough 
• The camera quality is poor therefore making action blurred and the colours unclear 
• The way the lines are delivered isn't dramatic enough so doesn't catch the audience's attention
• The story isn't clear and the clips don't indicate what happens
• The audio quality is bad, so the dialogue sounds less dramatic 
• The sound bridge doesn't link to the clips properly 
• The clips don't link to each other effectively or form a storyline 
• Sound continuity is poor 
• The music is copyrighted so cannot be used

Steps which we took to correct this: 

• Re-filmed some shots
• Filmed some new shots
• Edited them together in more creative ways
• Use anchorage to explain more of the narritive
• Re-filmed the 'VALEO' video with a new political figure
• Choosing new music to create more suspense 

Certification of VALEO

We have chosen to classify our trailer as a 15.
Reasons for this are the following:

The theme
The theme of the film will be complex and dark, thus unsuitable for those under the age of 15.

Strong violence 
In the film there would be scenes of strong violence from protesters and conflict between characters

Frequent strong language 
The film would contain strong language due to the age of the characters (18 years old) and the nature of their arguments.

'VALEO' would not be an 18 because it will not 'dwell on the infliction of pain or injury' and then will not be 'continued or aggressive use' of the 'strongest terms'.

BBFC Film Certification

This is the information from the BBFC website concerning certificate 15 films: 

What does the 15 symbol mean?
No-one under 15 is allowed to see a 15 film at the cinema or buy/rent a ‘15’ rated DVD. 15 rated works are not suitable for children under 15 years of age.

Are there any limits on what sort of theme a work can have at 15?
No theme is prohibited, provided the treatment is appropriate for 15 year olds.

Is 15 really stronger than 12A?
Yes. 15 works are stronger than 12 or 12A rated works and could include any of the following:

• strong violence
• frequent strong language (eg 'f***').
• portrayals of sexual activity
• strong verbal references to sex
• sexual nudity
• brief scenes of sexual violence or verbal references to sexual violence
• discriminatory language or behaviour
• drug taking

How much strong language is there in a 15?
There could potentially be a great deal. At 15 there is no upper limit on the number of uses of strong language (eg f***).
Occasionally there may be uses of the strongest terms (eg 'c***'), although continued or aggressive use will not normally be passed 15.

What about discriminatory or offensive terms?
There may be racist, homophobic or other discriminatory language, and the work could explore themes relating to this.
However, at 15 the work as a whole must not endorse discriminatory language or behaviour.

How much sex and nudity is allowed at 15?
At 15 sexual activity can be portrayed, as long as there is no strong or graphic detail. Some sex scenes can be quite long at this category and may involve some nudity and movement. Though nudity may be allowed in a sexual context there should be no strong detail.
There are no constraints on nudity in a non-sexual or educational context.
There can be strong references to sex and sexual behaviour, but especially strong or crude references are unlikely to be acceptable unless justified by context.
Heterosexual and homosexual sex and sex references are treated the same.

Can there be strong violence?
Yes, at 15 violence may be strong. It should not dwell on the infliction of pain or injury, however, and the strongest gory images are unlikely to be acceptable.
Strong sadistic or sexualised violence is also unlikely to be acceptable.
Easily accessible weapons may not be glamorised.

What about sexual violence?
There may be detailed verbal references to sexual violence (for example descriptions of rape or sexual assault in a courtroom scene or in victim testimony) but any portrayal of sexual violence must be discreet and have a strong contextual justification.

What about horror works?
Many horror films are rated 15. At 15 there can be strong threat and menace (as long as it is not sadistic or sexualised), although the strongest gory images are unlikely to be acceptable.

Can you see drugs in a 15 rated film or video?
At 15 drug taking may be shown but the work as a whole must not promote or encourage drug misuse.
The misuse of easily accessible and highly dangerous substances like aerosols or solvents is unlikely to be acceptable at 15.

What about dangerous behaviour or things teens might copy?
We consider the risk of potential harm to impressionable teenagers. For example, dangerous behaviour such as hanging, suicide and self-harming should not dwell on detail which could be copied.

Screen Shots from the Trailer

Deconstructing Posters To Create A Criteria

Fonts for Website, Poster and Trailer Anchorage

For our trailer we need to carefully select a suitable font to use for the anchorage, it is also important that this can be transferred effectively onto our poster and website and still accurately portray the tone and theme of the film we are promoting. 

We have chosen the fonts below because we feel they would all fit appropriately into our promotional package. 

squared display

We chose this font because of the futuristic and technological appearance. We considered that the thin lines may not show the power that we intended, however after deconstructing the film poster for 'Strange Days' we realised that the thin font stands out and create intrigue. 

induction

Evaluation of our first draft of the trailer

In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media texts? (Evaluation of our first draft)

After completing our first draft we have made these observations:

What has been successful in our first cut: 

- the positioning of the clips

- the use of white noise 

- the music chosen (which has appropriate dynamics)

- the shots of Charlie watching the youtube video 

Codes and conventions used:

- quick cuts

- anchorage and inventive ways of getting in anchorage (google)

- dialogue

What we need to change/add:

- add reviews in forms of Facebook posts

- change the font of the anchorage

- add the name and release date of the film

- add clips with higher quality footage and camera work

- add credits page

- add a wash to make it more blue and technological 

- close ups on face 

- computer screen light on face clips

This is the link to our first cut on YouTube:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Faz-yaGGiHA&feature=youtu.be

Influential Films

In our film trailer we intend to include certain aspects and concepts from a variety of films.
As our film is a dystopian thriller, the main themes are isolation

Films that have influenced some of our choices for costume, set etc. are:

Dystopian Thrillers: (1984/ A Scanner Darkly/ THX 1138/ V for Vendetta/)
Dystopian Sci-fi: (Blade Runner/ Children of Men/ Minority Report/ Idiocracy/ Metropolis/ Equilibrium/)

Tag-Line Ideas

'In Cyber-Space no one can hear you scream'
- Too corny


'Internet control is only a click away'
- Too long
- Aim of trailer is made clear

'Complete control is a click away'
- More ambiguous

'One click'
- Snappy
- Too abstract and vague

'One click to total control'
- Could mislead

'The Time Is Now'
- Ambiguous & mysterious 
- Link to the trailer
- Link to the YouTube video titled 'The Time Is Now'

Recent Violence Blamed on The Power of The Internet

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/timothy-karr/newtown-media-lanza_b_2311367.html 

This links to our trailer theme as the internet is used as a reason for why these events have taken place. These occurences suggest that the internet can influence violence through the means of control.