A2 Media G324 Advanced Production - Evaluation Question One
1. Natasha Manzella
A2 Media G324 –
Advanced Production
Question One: In what ways does your
media product use, develop or
challenge forms and conventions of real
media products
2. Before creating my practical projects I undertook
a large amount of research into the horror genre
and I learnt of the many conventions included in
horror posters and trailers. Therefore, when
producing my media product I included these
conventions and also challenged a few.
3. From all the real horror media products the
lighting they used was dull and dark which
creates the horror like atmosphere. I used this in
my trailer by filming in the dark; it meant that
sight is restricted and therefore induces a fear of
the unknown.
4. Another convention I used in my horror trailer was the
typical horror like setting, in all the films I analysed they
showed either a large new house like in ‘House at the End
of the Street’, or a secluded location with hardly anyone
around creating a sense of isolation. In my trailer, the
setting I used was a wood in North London and a house in
the middle of the wood. The house appeared to be
surrounded by tree’s which in a sense showed it cut off
from the rest of the world, this is a successful convention
as it shows that no one can help the protagonist
therefore making them more vulnerable.
5. A further convention I included in my trailer was
typical horror iconography, my antagonist was
holding a knife and she was covered in blood all
immediately inducing fear and enigma
strengthening the horror genre. Most horror trailers
tend to include some form of a weapon such as the
hammer in ‘House at the End of the Street’ as this
creates the sense of danger which is why I thought
it was essential to include something similar.
6. The antagonist is usually a male character as it shows his
power over the protagonists but I chose to challenge this
convention by using a little girl as the antagonist. I thought
this would be effective as it is unexpected especially as youth
connotes innocence, as well as this I dressed her in a plain
white dress which also symbolizes innocence. This contrasts
with the knife she is holding when we are first introduced to
the girl and the dark makeup. I researched horror films that
have previously used this technique such as ‘The Ring’ and
‘Orphan’ and I learnt that they tend to hang the hair over the
face to hide some of the girls features which induces a fear of
the unknown and it helps to create suspense.
7. The protagonist in horror films like mine tends to be mainly
female as they are considered as vulnerable, naïve and
weaker against the antagonist, this is why in my production all
my characters are female. Furthermore, as females are
considered to be dependent on a male by putting them
without any male company increases their vulnerability but it
also makes the audience care more for their wellbeing than
they would a well-built man. However, I challenged this
convention slightly by making my female characters confident
and brave, so much so they are willing to travel to a secluded
area and investigate a story from a film they previously
watched (Silenced).
8. The shots that I used could be considered as
unconventional as most horror films and trailers use a
range of establishing shot, close – ups, mid shots and
other types of shots but instead I used handheld shots.
On the other hand, found footage films such as ‘Rec.’ and
‘Paranormal Activity’ are getting more recognition and
they are now more popular so much so some consider it
to be a horror sub-genre. This is also very common for
low budget films as they do not require expensive camera
equipment this factor also influenced my choice to use
this style.
9. Another important convention I used in my trailer
was the use of a jump scare, after I added the title
and removed the tense music the audience begins
to calm down, I then added an eerie scream and it
shows a quick shot of the antagonist. This was
unexpected and I discovered from my audience
feedback that it was successful and impressionable
which is what I wanted considering it is the last
thing audience sees. Most trailers use this
technique and I got my idea from the possession, it
was a simple jump scare but creepy all the same
mainly due to the music.
10. My music was another main feature that I tried to use to
reflect typical horror conventions; I listened to many
different trailers and concentrated on the music. All most
always the music was deep and tense and the pace
increased with the action as the trailer went
on, furthermore I found that the music usually has no
lyrics so the audience isn’t distracted from the action in
the trailer. Therefore, for the music in my trailer I used
YouTube to try and find tense music but it was extremely
difficult to find a track that fit well with my narrative so I
used final cut pro to create my own soundtrack by
combining loads of different sounds (including the
resident evil soundtrack)
11. I attempted to reflect the typography that I had
seen in in a trailer I watched called ‘The Pact’ it
was simple and plain but I think it worked
affectively, so for my trailer I used a simple white
text on a dark black background. I felt this also
added suspense and didn’t give too much of the
narrative away whilst keeping to the horror
atmosphere.
12. And finally I tried to create enigma, which I
realized was a horror convention. I did this by
creating a camera bad T.V. effect which looks like
the camera cut out just as the antagonist
approaches the protagonist which creates
enigma as the audience will question what has
just happened. Furthermore, as the shots used
are from a handheld camera it is almost like the
audience is included in the trailer and these
shots restrict their sight creating enigma.
13. When creating my magazine front cover I tried to include
conventions I had seen in other real media projects, I
added a puff ‘The World’s Biggest Movie Magazine’, a bar
code, the date, the price and the magazine title (house
style) ‘Empire’. By adding all these different features it
made my final product look realistic and professional. I
made date and price very small compared to the rest of
the text on the magazine this is because it may
discourage the audience when considering whether to
buy the magazine or not therefore I want it to be the last
thing they see.
14. I noticed that in all the horror magazines they featured
someone from the film, so it was between the antagonist
or the protagonist but after doing some research I
thought that for a horror magazine front cover looks
much more interesting if it was the antagonist.
However, my antagonist is very young so it is unlikely she
would be doing any interviews so I didn’t include and
exclusives about the film on the cover. A convention of
horror magazine front covers is the engaging direct eye
contact, so I was sure to include this. I feel that it looks as
if the antagonist is looking at the audience with piercing
eyes tempting them to buy the magazine.
15. I added text and pictures around the outside of
other upcoming films of similar genres that I chose
to include in my magazine such as ‘The Hobbit’ and
‘Beautiful Creatures’. I added a ‘+’ to connote that
in my magazine we are giving away a lot more than
you would expect, I got this idea from The
Watchmen issue and the Bond issue. By adding
extra films it encourages people to purchase the
magazine even if they are unsure of the film on the
cover.
16. I made the title of my film ‘Silenced 2’ the biggest
text on the page as it is the most important text but
however I broke away from the horror conventions
by using yellow for this font. This is because I
wanted it to stand out and using dull colors would
have caused it to blend in with the background. The
picture I used was positioned so her face was in the
center of the magazine as it should be the first thing
the audience sees as it is the main focal point and
the main selling point.
17. Having looked at many Empire magazine front
covers I noticed that they position the title behind
the head of the main character, this is because they
are a well-established magazine and are confident
that their readers will be able to identify the
magazine even if part are covered. However, I did
not follow this convention as I wanted my photo of
the antagonist to be large which meant too much of
the title would be covered so I positioned it on top
of her head.
Mine Real
18. When it came to producing
my poster I kept to many
conventions by keeping the
background dark creating a
fear of the unknown and
the lighting was only
highlighting the
protagonists face. I added
blood and a large gash on
her forehead to make it
look like she has been
through hell, which will
create enigma and
encourage the audience to
watch the film.
19. I chose to use the protagonist as the main
character in the poster and her mouth is
covered as if to link with the title of ‘Silenced’. I
added the Facebook URL, credit block and tag
line all to create authenticity.
20. I broke conventions as I chose to take out her
eyes which tend to usually be giving direct eye
contact with the audience. I did this as I thought
it made the picture look scarier as the original
picture didn’t look like she was scared.
21. Furthermore, I felt my poster was pretty busy
with all the blood and textures so I wanted to
keep the amount of text to a minimal so I chose
not to include accolades and reviews.
