1. How does your media product
use, develop or challenge forms
and conventions of real media
products?
Ashley Murray

2. Before producing our teaser trailer, we
researched other teaser trailers for thrillers
such as ‘Obsessed’ (2009) directed by Steve
Shill, ‘One Hour Photo’ (2002) directed and
written by Mark Romanek and others such as
‘The Crush’ (1993) film written and directed
by Alan Shapiro.

3. We researched various covers for magazines
such as ‘Total Film.’ We also looked at
different film posters for films such as
‘Awake’ and ‘The Eye.’

4. We decided to not over-complicate our
media product by trying the challenge the
conventions of a thriller. This is because we
wanted our teaser trailer to be easily
understandable for the audience.

5. We took note of what the conventions of
other thriller teasers were and noted which
elements we did and did not want to use.
We noticed that many of the thriller teaser
trailers contained characters such as the
female victim and the male villain or an
obsessive character.

6. The ways in which our film ‘Torment’ uses
the conventions of real media products are
that it contains the enigma code, as it is
unclear what happens to our female victim
Nicole. This can be shown through use of the
question titles such as ‘will they find her?’
and the flashlight search in a forest for
Nicole.

7. We used iconography such as ropes and
photographs to successfully captive the genre
of our teaser trailer. This is shown in the shot
of Damien, where he is shown seated in his
bedroom, with a large collective of
photograph on his wall of the female victim
Nicole.

8. Torment also uses the conventions of real
thriller teaser trailers through the portrayal of
our male character Damien, as he plays an
obsessive villain, who will do anything to get
the girl he loves similarly to the character of
Lisa in obsessed .

9. The music conforms the
conventions of real thriller
teaser trailers as the music
builds up pace further into
trailer. The music is also quite
intense and build tension in
the audience, possibly making
the audience jump at some
point. The editing is fast paced
to enhance the enigma. We
also used low-key lighting to
enhance the eeriness of the
scenes. The props and clothing
used in our teaser trailer were
realistic, which allows the
audience to feel more involved
in the plot as it is similar to
everyday life.

10. Ways in which we could have improved our
teaser is if we tried more to challenge and
develop the conventions of thriller teaser
trailers. We could have done this by possibly
not showing our male villain at all, for
instance just showing his effect on Nicole. Or
used a slower less dramatic music piece to
challenge the conventions of a teaser trailer.