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

Usually Audiences are informed of new movies though technological convergence. They are usually introduced to the film with a short teaser trailer, then moving onto a trailer and occasionally, on the bigger movies, movie campaigns. Audiences are made aware of the campaign and movie though platforms like social media, posters, billboards, magazine and other forms of advertising but, the main selling source would have to be the trailer. The trailer is usually a shortened quick version of the film. Building on the suspense and highlighting the main characters. It’s then usually introduced with music featured in the film and sound effects that apply to that genre.

My project consisted of producing a trailer, poster and a magazine. I had decided that I was going to start a Horror genre to my project and based my filming ideas from this. I was then able to go ahead and work on my magazine and poster from my ideas. Seeing as my trailer and poster was going to be promoting a horror film I had to look at the conventions of the genre on a whole and worked with them to produce an effective piece. From my previous work in my AS I knew how to use many different software’s but was unfamiliar with video editing software. I then to take a step back and teach myself how to use it effectively.

Conventions of the Horror genre:

My understanding of the conventions and elements horror often features came from my strict analysing sessions of trailer, magazines and posts I done throughout the whole progress of my project. I often spent time analysing both well-known films with big budgets and also, films that would be like mine with a very little budget. My trailer has come out very unconventional to make it stand out more on the markets. I have made it so it is not such an obvious horror and worked very differently. I have also added elements that are obvious to the horror genre like the music and blood but, when it came down to picking my victim I made him a man. I generally picked this idea as I was annoyed as a female media student that females where being made the victims all the time. So I introduced a male victim and portrayed him in a very innocent way in which other movies tend to portray the women. Another element would be by making my killer undefeated, this shows an element of suspense to my trailer, and help bring the idea that there is more to come. This often attracts the audience more as you don’t want to miss the key information from the first film.

So now that i have finished my final products I wanted to see how well I can relate my pieces to those of a professional standard. Here are a few conventions that I have spotted that my work shares with other products.

Poster -

Both Chain Reaction and A Nightmare on Elm Street have used a woman to sell their film. Both women have been use in a similar way but with different techniques; for example, in Chain Reaction, the woman has been objectified by the use of a phone. The only parts of the body that are revealed are the woman's arms and neck; her head is not even presentable. This could signify that there is nothing left to identify the woman with. A Nightmare on Elm Street does this too but takes away the woman's authority of being on the poster, she is undermined by a tall masculine figure and is left with only half of her face revealing. This could create a feeling of another loss of identity. When I look at both posters from a less critical eye it intrigues me to know what characters both the females have to hold in each film, this sense of mysteriousness builds on the tension.

Another aspect that both posters hold is the distinctive title, both films have place their titles at the bottom of the page, this means an audiences will see this last on the page, making it the most memorable thing about the poster.

A convention that Chain Reaction has used and is generally used on most film posters is the use of a billing block. A billing block made my poster look professional as this is what is generally used in many cases.




Trailer -

When looking at both these trailers I feel that they both have a similar editing style to each other with quick snippets of footage faded in and slowed down by text. I feel that both techniques that have been used are effective as they help build tension in the trailer and effectively build a story line. I think a professional aspect that Chain Reaction achieved well was its use of Establishing shots, similarly Bereavement has also used establishing shots in the same way. The use of an establishing shot allows the audience to become comfortable with the mise-en-scene and help their imagination unfold regarding what is about to happen. By evolving an establishing shot they allow the audience to also build an understanding of important figures, and relationships that are being made within that scene.

Another point that makes both these trailers effective would be the use of story telling. Both trailers have overdubbed vocal narratives, effectively scaring the audience as they can not see where this sound is originally coming from using their imagination to build on the story being told.

Magazine -

Both magazines have effectively branded their films well by using their fonts so clearly on the front page. By using the films font they are attracting the films audience to their magazine straight away. Another convention that both magazines have featured would be the use of their title. Both magazines have use distinctive clear fonts that clearly stand out on the page, both fonts portray a different genre and theme to their magazine and have been placed at the top of the page so it stands out well on a shelf in a store that the magazine would be sold at. Both magazines also feature a picture of the character from the film they are featuring, by doing this they give the audience an insight to whats in store when they view the  film, the picture often is a medium close up, consisting of the  characters facial expressions and body language built up with mise-en-scene. Seeing as Spot Light is featuring a horror this links to why little mise-en-scene is being shown and explains to why the woman's expression is being hidden this adds a mysterious feeling to the film, and can be seen as risky to use this on a font page.