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.

The Trailer!!

Hair and make up

Here are a few photos ideas for what we thought female make up and hair would look like:

These are a few idea we could have for how to style our actresses, we went with simple hair style and sparse make up- we felt our actors did not need to be caked in make up so we kept it minimal  We had things such as lip stick and wavy hair to make them look more unusual and distinct.

The story behind our last evening of filming via comic!

I forgot to tell the story!
   Events may have been twisted!
But in fact whilst filming in St Mary Cay (local to me) we had a scrap with a group of local gypsies' from the area- luckily there was no damage just a bit shaken and broken Steampunk gun.It was an issue for a little while and they did harassed a little but we knew how to handle it. We think in retrospect it may have been wiser to have gone there earlier in the day, but due to circumstances it was difficult to. If we did have to go back there we would probably have an adult about to make sure that no one would give us an issue.

Influence Post!

Been a while since one of these!
I thought maybe a documentary on Ripper would be of use:




This was a helpful documentary to understand the murders, suspects and victims linked to Ripper.This was a random search of YouTube, this was the most viewed video on the search so I decided to view it and put it on my blog.

Origins of our film title

The name of our film come from a cartoon from when the Ripper murders were taking place:


This cartoon was published to criticise the police for their implied competence. Due to the lack of finding Jack the Ripper this further reinforced the belief that the police were incapable. We thought this would be a good name for our film as we were focusing on the police and investigators of the time and would add a bit of irony to the film. We can also imply the tension between the police and ,media within our trailer with the use of the title.

Inspiration Photos

These are some photos taken from Tumblr to do with Jack the Ripper


This shows that Jack the Ripper and Sherlock Holmes (which are two things that influenced us) is still in vogue at the moment to be still created into video games.


This is a drawing found on Tumblr which reminds me of one of the shots form our trailer where a Ripper pushes the prostitute towards a door and cuts her neck.


This is an interpretation of Ripper drawn to look like a villainous cartoon like.


A mischievous looking Ripper, which kind of reminds me of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows


This is a typed version of Rippers signature, this links to the letter we created for our trailer- this shows the different forms we could create this letter.



I would have loved to create a newspaper front cover, but it would have taken a lot of time and we would have had to find a way to print it off in A3 to make it look like a broad sheet.



A drawing which shows how Ripper could have been any one, even a gentlemen... Some people even thought it was Prince Albert


A poster of the time which would have been a good thing to print off and stick somewhere in the scene with Chief Detective Brooking.

This looks like an edited cartoon from around the time of the Ripper murders- this could link to "retelling" of events.



A very well known image linked to Ripper, this would have been a good idea for a scene with Abberline and Moore. Or if we had a costume another character pointing out the body.



This would have been a GREAT idea for our poster, but we would have to do five women to look like had been convincingly murdered. Plus we would need a cape...



A very graphic photo showing one of the crime scenes linked to Ripper, this would have been a difficult murder to recreate s we stuck to a more simple slashed neck.



An amazing drawing which would have been a great idea for a poster, it would be a little too much like our magazine as that has a picture of the Ripper`s and we wanted our poster and magazine front cover to look different.

Ripper Street

In the last few weeks there has been a new television drama called Ripper Street. I looked at this a few months prior to creating our film trailer and thought it looked quite impressive. Now that there is more information about it out, we realised that it is quite like our story behind Ripper- but with some obvious differences, such as there are three main protagonists whereas there are only two in ours. Ours is in 1888 when the murders where happening, unlike Ripper Street which is six months after.
Due to this drama coming out around the same time as we are doing our coursework, it shows that our film idea could make it in the film industry in its current climate!