2. Q1: IN WHAT WAYS DOES YOUR MEDIA PRODUCT USE,
DEVELOP OR CHALLENGE FORMS AND CONVENTIONS
OF REAL MEDIA PRODUCTS?
"Unwritten" was produced based on various horror conventions used by very
successful horror film producers. Initially, "Unwritten" is based on an entity that's
manifest inside an old book which is a very common convention in most horrors
because most horrors have the antagonist relate to an object. Our
trailer emphasizes on a book which is an immediate signifier that it will play a
major part in the future. I believe that using conventional methods as such is
essential when producing a horror movie/trailer because many producers have
confirmed this method works through their profit. Some examples of horrors that
use this convention are: Annabelle, Chucky and Evil Dead.
3. Moreover, our trailer uses camera conventions in terms of the shots. Firstly, every
horror movie such as Mama and Insidious use point of view shots; sometimes
subtle, sometimes obvious but both create the same effect of someone watching
nearby; it increases the viewer's anticipation and unnerved feeling because
traditionally point of view shot suggest that a jump scare will soon occur. However,
pulling off these shots correctly is challenging because the slightest factor in the
frame can create a different effect for better or worse such as positioning or mise-
en-scene; sound can also be a factor that contributes to a shots effectiveness. In
"Unwritten" we use a point of view shot to represent the antagonist as a pose to
actually revealing the antagonist because this has been proven to cause viewers to
start imagining the antagonist and become intrigued.
4. We have also stayed conventional with the on-screen text for example; horror
trailers frequently reveal the title at the end of the trailer sometimes before the final
shot/scene which are often jump scares or cliffhangers. In our trailer we have the
title at the end of the trailer because this theoretically is the last thing the audience
will remember. Furthermore, we have positioned the names of the main cast,
producer and director respectively at the start of the trailer. This has increased
significance if the cast is known as this would create more publicity for the
film/trailer for example; "Magic Mike" stars Channing Tatum who is in the
"limelight" so to speak which means that any film that stars him would gain more
attention than a film that stars say a local actor/actress because very few people
have heard of them.
5. On the other hand, we have tried to challenge horror conventions such as character
in "Unwritten" for example; traditionally, since back in the early eighties, horror
movies usually star a female who is portrayed as fragile and incompetent; usually
blonde and in her late teens, early twenties, an example is; Scream with the
exception the female character is brunette meaning that Wes Craven; the producer
of Scream, tried to and successfully challenged pre-existing horror conventions. We
have tried to challenge this by have the protagonist as a young male because we
wanted to put more emphasis on the potency of the antagonist by having them
confront the alleged superior gender (this remains a debate to this day and this
decision was based on stereotype).
6. Lastly we have not so much to challenge but develop/add to the music/sound
conventions of horror movies for example; predominantly all successful horror
movies use very dramatic instrumental music that consists of high notes or low,
bass beats that stick to a heartbeat tempo. This is likely to connote the audience'
pulse and when the music diversifies, so does the audience' pulse. We have tried to
adapt this into our product by using orchestral/choral music because it portrays a
more religious culture whereas a beat with a piano and drums would come off as
more modern and youth related. However, we were not able to pull it off so we did
indeed result in using conventional music.
