3. What have you learned from your audience feedback?

Survey Analysis

As a group we decided to create a survey for people to fill out so they could tell us what they thought about our film. The main reason for this is so that if we were to make any changes we would know what we should change.

The first question we asked was what was the most successful part of the film. The reason for this is to identify what we had done well. We found that mise en scene was what the majority thought was good about our film. Question 2 asks what was least successful in our film. This is an important question as we can see what was not good in our trailer and we can therefore change it if we need too. From the results we can see that there is a tie between camera shots, music and editing. This is worrying as this means a majority of our film is not up to a high standard.

Question 3 asks what was the best part of thee trailer. From this we can identify what we did well. The first response says the costume and props were in keeping with the time period that our film was set in. This is pleasing to us as we wanted to make the time period identifiable through the costumes used. The second response continues this by saying the costumes were good. They also say that they liked the camera shots which is also a positive.

The forth question asks what could have been improved in the trailer. The first response says that tension could have been built up more and the second question continues this as we have identified that we change the music then we could have built up more tension.

2. How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary texts?

Regarding the combination between our main product of Blind Man's Buff (the trailer) and our ancillary texts (the poster, magazine cover), I believe that this combination is effective in regards to the promotion and distribution and gauging interest from an audience.

                                                                     


                                                                         Website

Film distribution is incredibly reliant on promotion to not only garner interest from cinemas and distributors but also to engage the target audience of a certain media product and this combination is relevant to our film trailer for Blind Man's Buff. The trailer in itself can be distributed via the internet which is a path we explored through our own website http://406482.wix.com/blindmansbuff

The website combines well with the trailer as it allows the product to be seen on a mass scale beyond the distribution of the trailer in cinemas and by paper based means. Due to the universal accessibility of the internet, our website which has our trailer embedded in it can be viewed in nearly every country in the wold giving us the possibility of global recognition. Perhaps the most effective use of the internet in distributing our trailer is the use of Youtube. Youtube is one of the most daily visited websites on the internet and has the potential to have our trailer seen by millions of people. Our trailer can be viewed by many people and can be embedded on many social networking sites such Twitter and Facebook. Consequently Twitter and Facebook are themselves used by millions of users making the possible reach of our trailer to be extraordinary.









OVER ONE BILLION VIEWS!

Poster and Magazine Cover 

Whilst in last few years films have been promoted and distributed via digital distribution, manual distribution is still promiant and used to great effect in showing off media products to contemporary. Posters in particular are a common form of manual distribution which can also be distributed digitally as is seen in the inclusion of our website address in the poster. The poster itself is effective in combination with our main product is effective in creating intrigue towards Blind Man's Buff especially the use of silhouettes and the use of "Jack" to suggest an incoming event which appeals to our target audiences. Our poster for example has the potential to be distributed in many locations optimising the potential for attracting an audience that would view our product especially electronically as like the magazine it can be distributed on the internet.

Film posters on display in India observed by passers-by

Evaluation survey

Hello :) Thank you going on my blog! Could anyone who visits it please watch our trailer, if you look  to the side bar it shall say "The Trailer!!". Once you have watched please come back here and answer our survey!
Thanks again Evie!

Click here to take survey<

1. In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products ?

Evaluation Question 1: In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

Blind Man's Buff Analysis from Ciaran Pinnell on Vimeo.




  
Sequence 123 (1) from Evie Anderson on Vimeo.

I decided to compare Blind Man's Buff with a released film with a similar plotting and theme, 'From Hell'.

Title of the Film/Title Font and Style

Similarities - Both titles have a black background. The titles are bold and easy to see. 

Differences - Different colours. From Hell has a distinct red colouring to it which fits in with the tone of the film. Blind Man's Buff has a website under it.

Overview: Despite being similar films in terms of tone and theme, the titles actually have quite a few differences between them. For example, From Hell has a red colouring which fits in wih the tone of the film, and as part of the mise-en-scene: red for blood - the bloody murders of Jack the Ripper. However, Blind Man's Buff has a simple white colouring. It also has a website at the bottom of the title, unlike From Hell, which urges viewers to look up the website. I don't feel as if we managed to capture the conventional type of titles well due to this plain white titling and the website underneath, I believed it was unconventional compared to the usual type of trailer. However, we did manage to emulate conventional trailers by having a bold title with colours that compliment the black background.

Setting/Location

Similarities - Both are establishing shots, setting the scene for the story-line and setting. Both give an audience an idea of where the main location within the film will be set. 

Differences - From Hell is a master shot, showing a scene of London, while Blind Man's Buff only shows the sign for the hotel. 

Overview: The two location shots within the trailer are quite similar to each other. For example, both of them are establishing shots; they convey to the audience the main setting for the two films respectively and also gives them a good idea of what the story-line would be. The mise-en-scene in the locations effectively show the audience the setting and theme. Therefore, I believe Blind Man's Buff uses its locations within the trailer effectively, and to a conventional standard. However, I believe within the trailer we could have used more master shots to show the whole location.

Costumes and Props

Similarities - Use of knives: use of mise-en-scene, giving audience an idea of the characters and tone of the two films. Women within the two films dress similarly; Victorian dresses, showing the mise-en-scene for the female characters within the film.

Differences - Blind Man's Buff use of guns - however, this is due to the genre-mixing of the film (Victorian Thriller + Steampunk). 

Overview: The costuming and props in both films are similar to each other. Both the male leads dress similarly - smart and sophisticated, in shirts and suits, representing their importance within the respective films. The female characters dress in Victorian dress - some low cut to represent their characters. This fits in with the conventional idea of Victorian costumes. The props are also similar - the Rippers within the respective films both use knives as their main weapons, which represents their characters and the tone of the two films. However, in Blind Man's Buff its breaks the usual convention of a Victorian Thriller - it also uses guns. This is due to the genre-mixing idea of both Victorian Thriller and Steampunk. Therefore, Blind Man's Buff challenges the conventional idea of a Victorian Thriller by representing the genre through props.

Camerawork and Editing

Similarities - the use of camera angles and shots both convey the mise-en-scene by showing setting, theme and characters. Both use specific shots to show the story-line. Both use filters within the editing.

Differences - From Hell uses more complex and big-budget camera shots such as the tilt and master shot. 

Overview: Both films follow the type of shots found in conventional films, using camera shots which convey the mise-en-scene and represent the setting, theme and characters. The shots also show and give the audience an idea of the story-line for the two films. Both of the films use editing techniques such as transitions and filters to fit in with the conventional trailer, which uses techniques such as transitions. Therefore, I believe the use of camerawork and editing within Blind Man's Buff follow the conventional techniques used in other film trailers. However, due to From Hell having more budget than Blind Man's Buff the former trailer uses more big budgeted camera shots such as the tilt and the master shot, unlike Blind Man's Buff, which has a limited use of camera shots.

Story/Genre and how the opening sets it up

Similarities - both trailers convey the genre and story by the mise-en-scene within the two opening shots. Both openings set the dark tone of the films, which imply story and genre.

Differences - From Hell opens with a master-shot while Blind Man's Buff starts with a close-up shot. The latter begins straight into the action while the former begins with a narration.

Overview: Despite the similar genres and story in both the films the two trailers begin differently to each other. From Hell opens with a master-shot and then dialogue used from the film, which tells the story-line and sets the scene. The genre is shown by the dialogue and the mise-en-scene at the beginning of the trailer. Blind Man's Buff, however, opens by diving straight into the action with a murder scene. This sets the scene and gives the audience an impression of the overall story-line. The genre is also represented by the mise-en-scene  at the beginning. Both openings successfully told the story-line and genre well, and complied with the conventional means of the opening of the trailer.

How the characters are introduced

Similarities - both characters are a central part of the shot, representing their importance. Both characters have a lead up and are mentioned in the dialogue before being seen. 

Differences - The main character in From Hell is introduced at the beginning of the trailer while the main character from Blind Man's Buff is introduced halfway through the trailer. 

Overview: The characters within the film are similar to each other and fit the idea of the conventional characters within a film. There is the lead male character, a lead female character/love interest, and the mentor/helper. However, in Blind Man's Buff has an additional sidekick character. The lead males are introduced in similar ways - the trailer shows the viewer through dialogue that they are central to the plot before introducing them and make a point of their introduction by making them central to the camera shot. However, in From Hell, the main character is introduced at the beginning of the trailer. In Blind Man's Buff the main character is introduced halfway through the trailer. This is against the conventions of a normal film trailer as usually the main character is introduced at the beginning to establish to the viewer who he/she is and what the character has to do with the film. However, I believe we challenged the conventions of a trailer by building up the introduction to the character and making the appearance also important to the story.

4.How did you use new media technologies in the construction and research, planning and evaluation stages?

Evie`s Prezi :)

Blind Man's Bluff or Blind Man's Buff?

There was a lot of confusion about whether we call our film Blind Man's Bluff or Blind Man's Buff. Jake was intent on the latter, but some people were confused as to why the Blind Man was physically attractive. One of the posters we looked at and incidentally had in our film was a cartoon produced in the 1800s, named 'Blind Man's Buff'

As you can see, the writing on the cartoon clearly says Blind Man's Buff. Surely this was hard-boiled evidence that our film should be named Blind Man's Buff. But for me, it wasn't enough. I decided to research this the best way I could, by searching up Blind Man's Buff on google. This lead me to a wikipedia page on Blind Man's Buff.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blind_man's_buff

The article initially suggested to me that it can be Buff AND Bluff. However, as I read on, I discovered that the game of Blind Man's Buff was later to be known as Blind Man's Bluff, due to linguistic corruption.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linguistic_corruption

This lead me to believe that due to the wording of buff in modern day slang is now known to mean physically attractive, this corrupted and changed the wording from Buff to Bluff. Therefore, we decided, to make modern audiences understand the lexis, we have now named the film Blind Man'sBluff. However, due to the alternating between buff and bluff, some of our posts may name the film Blind Man's Buff. This was when we thought the film to be called Blind Man's Buff. It is now, for definite, Blind Man's Bluff. Thank you for reading this post.