Cool Story Bro

1. Evaluation
By Daniyaal Hussain

2. In what ways does your poster use,
develop or challenge forms and
conventions of real media products?
The poster we created borrowed elements
from various horror movie posters and the
colour red was used frequently
throughout most of the posters in order to
represent blood which is seen in most
horror films due to the fear of death, etc.
This was used in our poster due to it
having the genre of horror and this was
researched in various other horror films
which helped us develop the poster.

3. We did not change any conventions since we wished to stick to the
normal tradition of how horror movie posters are made and to make it
seem more accurate since it would be inaccurate to have a horror movie
poster look bright and calm. Real horror posters such as A Nightmare On
Elm Street were used in order to borrow elements off of them such as
the crimson background and the fact that only the antagonist was
coloured was also borrowed so that he is shown to have importance in
the story or is possibly responsible for the crimson colour which is blood
related. Furthermore the same font style is used giving it a more
classical yet powerful look as it is formal and bold further developing the
conventions of horror movie posters.

4. In what ways does your cover use,
develop or challenge forms and
conventions of real media products?
We researched into different
types of film magazines such
as “Empire” and “Total Film”
and the layout for empire was
used for our own magazine.
We used the Empire logo on
our Magazine and placed it
into the same space as most
Empire magazines although
the logo’s size was decreased.

5. Most film magazines tend to promote film
titles on the cover although not as big as
the main film being promoted. We did this
and added small icons of famous horror
icons such as Jason Voorhees; promoting
them in the process and giving the reader
an image of what they look like which has
developed most magazines that exist
today.

6. In a way it has also challenged the
conventions of real media products as the
picture provided has no blank background
and is instead just an edited photograph but
with no sort of special effect and the reason
being is because it gives the magazine and
film itself a sense of realism as the film is a
realistic horror with no type of
supernaturalism whatsoever. Real covers
like Empire’s Hellboy 2 cover has edited the
masthead with a fire effect although we
stuck with the original which further
challenges the conventions. We used the
title from the poster on the magazine too
which gives it a type of iconic feel as the
film wants to be big and for all people to
recognize the title wherever it’s shown, on a
magazine cover or even on merchandise.

7. In what ways does your trailer use,
develop or challenge forms and
conventions of real media products?
Our trailer borrows elements from
typical horror/thriller trailers such as
Friday the 13th and Anabelle. We did
not borrow any of the shots given only
the contrast between scenes, having
that same fade in and out gesture used
in most horror trailers. The fade out
then switched towards the inter titles
which is another thing borrowed from
the Anabelle trailer still containing that
red font.

8. Most trailers already use the convention of
introducing characters in a medium shot
especially when they are having a conversation as
this gives the audience a clear idea of what the
relationship is like between the two characters.
Showing them both is almost like an introduction
towards them. Moreover, the fact that they are
staring at each other whilst conversing also gives
the audience the idea of their relationship being a
close one.
Furthermore, the trailer uses various shots
inspired from the Friday the 13th trailer specially
the over-shoulder shot of Jason watching the kids
at Crystal Lake. We had the main antagonist of
our trailer watch the happy couple from afar as
an over the shoulder shot. This convention is
usually used in most trailers to give the audience
a sense of mystery and to keep them in suspense
as to what will happen next.

9. The soundtrack as well as sound effects consist of a
typical thump noise as an action or movement is
made in the trailer. This is used in most film trailers
as it gives off a dynamic effect towards the
audience as well as giving the audience a sense of
being overwhelmed as it is an over-exaggerated
sound effect used in nearly all trailers regardless of
genre, but it seems to fit the genre of horror quite
well due to it keeping the audience in suspense
and a rush of adrenaline. It also connects with the
splash made in the river.
The rest of the soundtrack gives off an eerie effect
which could possibly creep out the audience and it
used when the male walks towards an alleyway,
but unknown to him the antagonist awaits. The
soundtrack helps the audience connect with the
male as they can almost feel the danger he’s in.