Skills Development Essay

Skills Development Essay

For my foundation portfolio at Longcroft School, I created two pieces of media, a film trailer and a magazine. Initially, for my film trailer, I was a given a task to work as a freelance employer of ‘prime time’s productions’ producing and promoting a trailer which looked effective and something that would hook my intended audience. My intended audience is aimed at a 16-25 youth market, which has been given a 15-18 certificate. My intentions were to create a horror film, posing questions for the audience that my film will answer. My film trailer lasting 1.32 minutes. I used windows moviemaker to create my film trailer. My second choice of media was print, creating and designing a magazine. My task was to create features for different existing publications on the release of Prime Times’ British film. I put myself in the working position of a freelance journalist; researching magazine’s to fulfil the very best for my product. I produced A4 designs and articles for my magazine including images and text. I used Microsoft PowerPoint to make my magazine and article’s.

Before starting my AS media course at Longcroft School, I had numerous skills within the subject which helped me greatly as I was familiarised with the tools and software used; such as, I created and edited short video clips using Windows Movie Maker. To do this I used my Fugifilm camera to capture the video which produced clear quality of image and also sound. As I edited many clips I was familiar with the editing tools used, such as, Zoom and Fading effects which impacted on my knowledge and understanding of creating a film trailer. As I was doing a horror film, I used different camera angles and editing effects to bring my trailer to life. The camera angles I used where, a pan effect, which the camera moved horizontally as I was walking outside of the house a night. I used tilt shots, of the camera looking down vertically. I used this effect when I was underwater in the bath and when I was shown in a bed. It showed a lot of the scene and worked successfully. I also used a lot of zoom shots, using my camera, capturing parts of my face and emphasising my eyes. The focus of the eye’s work really well, as it’s clear to see even when the camera has been zoomed. The contrasts of light and rapid changes of clips created a steady flow, linking the scenes together. The dark effect of some scenes where created by filming at night, which I think worked well as it made it feel more realistic and gave it an eerie effect. I tried to keep the lighting level dark throughout my trailer, which linked with the genre of horror. The lighting is light when I am shown in the library and the zoom shots of my face, which gave it clear, focused effect.

I then also developed my project by making a survey for my research. I asked questions to my audience on the topic of their interests in films. My results show that people prefer comedy the most, whereas, horror was the least favourite. I find the effects used to create a horror are intriguing. My target audience for my trailer is targeted at 16-25 year olds and older. Also, anyone that loves to watch the genre of horror. On an economic social scale my trailer would be for the scale E; the unemployed, students and casual workers. This is because my audience was aimed mainly at youths, nevertheless, many adults and casual workers may be interested depending on their interests in films. In my trailer, I think it keeps my audience’s attention, by the camera angles and effects that I used. I researched theory’s such as the hypodermic syringe model, two step flow model, uses and gratification theory, reception theory, and the social economic scale, which all had impact on my product’s.

The music was very important for my trailer and before starting had used 'YouTube' to search many different soundtracks which would be useful and help me develop my ideas. I learnt about the use of diegetic sound and non-diegetic sound. From this knowledge I used it in my trailer. I used non diegetic sound, as a recording over my trailer which I think worked well and created a mysterious effect. I intended to keep the tone of my voice sad and the feeling of desperation for the character. This narration by the girl at the beginning worked effectively as it began to tell the audience the storyline through the characters eyes. The soundtrack I chose impacted greatly on my trailer, making a chilling atmosphere, and on my audience’s emotions. For my music I also did more research to find some sinister sound effects which then were used for my final product. Music is used as a clever effect, attracting the audience, whereas if it was just silent, many would lose interest. The different tones and volume levels of sounds all have impact on a trailer; I made the sound quieter at the beginning and then gradually increased the volume as the trailer began to reveal more. Although, breaks of silence in a trailer will create tension. I think this worked successfully at the end of my trailer.

Before I started learning about the creation of music videos, I edited many photos by changing the contrast and lighting of the photos. I knew the colours and the text were also important to attract my audience's attention. All these skills helped me develop my final images for the front page of my magazine. At Longcroft School I didn’t have the opportunity to use Photoshop to edit my photos for my magazine, although I experimented with the contrast and lighting of my photos. I created a survey for the ages between 16-25, to find out their interests and dislikes in magazines. The results showed a pattern in the answers received, which had an impact on my product and helped me to fulfil my audience’s needs. I think my product does meet the needs of my specific audience of which I stated in my intentions. I think this because; my magazine is appealing and eye catching, with the use of contrast of colours to make my text stand out. The black background makes the image on my front cover stand out. Through my research, and surveys, the audience said the front cover is very important, therefore, making my cover eye catching and interesting it appeals to my audience.

Also, I researched a range of magazines, such as, Total Film, Ok magazine, Go Girl, Woman’s Own, Men’s health. All these magazines have different audience’s, which is reflected in my research and has helped me develop my skills and magazine.  You can tell this by the design and language used, it’s very important to the intended audience, which I think I achieved to match mine. Keeping the text simple on the cover, makes people want to read it, whereas if there was loads of text, it wouldn’t interest my audience. ‘I don’t actually enjoy watching horrors but acting in one is completely different...’ The use of the ellipsis, tells the audience there’s more to read and discover, which keeps them intrigued. Some of the text in bold and some in capital letters. ‘ABANDONED’ ‘REEL’ ‘PLUS’ ‘EXCLUSIVE’, all these words catch the audience’s eye. Using famous names also on my cover will attract the fans of them which will increase the audience readings on my product. I also took into consideration the language used to not insult or offend any type of audience, due to their religious views or ethnic issues in certain places.

Furthermore, all the skills that I have learnt in my foundation portfolio have developed during over the course. I've gained knowledge and experience in the creation of a film trailer and the effects used to make it look affective such as, the different camera angles used and the use of lighting. All these have developed my skills further and impacted greatly on my final media product. Moreover, I have learnt other techniques and skills such as, layouts of magazines and the different effects used to edit photos and also the text and how it’s presented. Likewise, the language used was very important to determine my intended audience and produce my final design of my magazine article and front cover.