Question 1; Evaluation of Crow's Field project.

1. Alice Ward | Evaluation
1. In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and
conventions of real media products.
Trailer
Throughout my A-level media process I have learnt how to use a variety of specific
conventions to use, develop or challenge the verisimilitude that is the Media market.
This is to ensure that Lunar Productions, as a production company, exceeds horror
film expectations to the best of our and my own ability. Coming up to the end of our
project; that can now be named Crow’s Field, our evaluation has been a journey
whilst processing the main task and co-existing ancillary tasks (poster and magazine).
But now final versions have been presented I can evaluate thoroughly on how
effective our film trailer etc. is (through stating such conventions and how either we
used, developed or challenged them).
First of all, within the trailer a lot of different conventions are highlighted
throughout, noticeable or not. The more visual conventions are clearly a more visible
selling point. This includes filters, titles, transitions, names/ credits married with the
audio (which speaks volumes in itself). Within Crow’s Field our first filter is a vibrant
autumn style filter that adds high attraction and colour activity to a trailer. By
putting the stereotypical horror filter first it swiftly grabs viewer’s attention through
the colour choice alone. It is not too gloomy, which allows the establishing and/ or
long shot of ‘Half-hanged Mary’ to be the illuminating contrast that can be clearly
noticed centre scene. And this is the beginning of our patterned, oxymoronic high
contrasts (light and dark). They each ‘bounce’ off each other in different scenes to
add an interesting, active concept to the visuals. The next filter entails a more
institutionalised blue binary opposite; to orange. This filter adds to the professional
video footage that would have been, realistically, used to keep an eye on Brooke
Evans. Symbolising her entrapment and high security needed for her raging torment;
that is subtly portrayed in the trailer. It is only implied in tiny actions due to the
mysterious notions we thought was appropriate for a trailer: not to give too much
away. A lot of brightness is suggested through Crow’s Field, like during Brooke Evans’
‘escaped’ scenes. This has an added misty filter for a washed, dream-like state
mirroring Brooke’s state of mind, unsustainability and edged madness. And so Lunar
Productions has used the conventions of filters to portray such suggested aspects to
our mysterious and high contrasting horror: battling innocence and torment.
Alongside significant filters that are used, is the use of simple titles and credits.
Throughout the trailer there is a breakage, ever so often, that fades to black allowing
the presence of white titles to add explanation to the framework. Let alone adding
to the on-going high contrasts there is small sessions of visual comprehension that is
a stereotypical facet of a trailer convention. Lunar Productions chose simplistic
white, capitalised fonts for the highest visibility and importance. To keep a viewer’s
attention, in such advertisement, any small breakages need to be of small duration
and simple phrases. In addition to this, is the fact that within a trailer there must be
a sense of ambiguity and a convention of ‘not giving too much away’.

2. Alice Ward | Evaluation
Lunar Productions challenged the conventions of a voice-over; by not using such an
audio. We chose not to include the facet of a voice-over to allow our own
instrumental musical piece to add the horror sense and atmosphere, to the trailer. A
voice-over would have layered over such an important part of our project and
initially ‘cloaked’ it. The genuine music we had created boldly highlighted the
anticipation we were trying to connote. It done this, also, through the on-going beats
and pianist addition; in which both married well with transitions and title
statements. Evidently, we implied that the visual words worked greater on their
own, with no need for an over-working voice-over. Many trailers out there today
haven’t used voice-over’s either, such as the remake of Godzilla. However they have
still gained great success, possibly by challenging the stereotypical conventions put
forward by typical following trailers. It is understood some conventions are the main
framework to create a base or ‘blue print’ for a trailer, but some aren’t needed and
can be dismissed for an advancing effect.
Crow’s Field uses the convention; much like famous producer James Wan, of titling
and stating the credentials of the producers that crafted the trailer and movie plot
and so on. Our personal names were used as part of the titling reels or shots, ‘Alice
Ward’ and ‘Joshua Boland’. This useful convention was and is to give credit to those
who put time and effort into the distributed trailer and then movie (adding a notion
of professionalismto such a Media product, and this also explains the understanding
Lunar Productions has as a coursework project (adding verisimilitude). Not only does
it add professionalismto the trailer it shows links to possibly other creations and
previous distributed works made by the producers, attracting previous fans and
growing Media market ‘footfall’. Likewise, we also chose to mention ‘From the
makers of Three Seven’ to add to our possible audience. Even though we may not
have the same target audience in both films we can still reach out to gain as much
appreciation as possible (in reality of film making). In addition to this, if a customer
liked the film teaser/ trailer once could check out another linking producer’s ‘craft’.
As Lunar Productions, collectively we must be confident in what we produce and so
using such a technique or convention we can represent this.
Likewise we used another convention, this being the duration of a trailer. Through
research most trailers shown on sites, such as YouTube, last around 2 minutes on
average (or surrounding). Even though it’s near 2 minutes, at 1:31, it can still be
disputed that we have challenged the convention. This is suggested because more
crucial information can be given in just an extra 20-30 seconds. To be exact, 29
seconds is a great amount of time to fit in a variation of new scenes; showing
characters attitudes, reactions and possible story line. But Crow’s Field needed to be
contained within the trailer and so we chose a smaller more constricted duration. It
doesn’t stray so far from 2 minutes but allows enough time to remain ambiguous
and mysterious as horrors are meant to be. This would then advance us in viewer
anticipation and then the need to watch the story of Brooke Evans, Mia Summers
and last but not least, ‘Half-Hanged Mary’. Alongside the ambiguity is the date of
release, which we only involve ‘This Year’ and ‘Coming Soon’. Not only does this
allow more space for, in reality, following teaser trailers, but also a greater surprise
or distribution/ film release. Mysteriousness and shock/ surprise are a perfect

3. Alice Ward | Evaluation
representation and affect for a horror film or trailer (and so ambiguity remains
effective).
Poster
Again, a range of matching and stereotypical conventions are used throughout our
ancillary tasks, especially our poster. But Lunar Productions may have made
developments to such conventions, or simply challenged such ‘rules’ or ‘professional
frameworks’; for our suggested advantage. Nevertheless, linking back to the
evaluation question, our poster has either used, developed or even challenged the
conventions of either the trailer or ancillary tasks. In this case it would be the certain
and specific facets of a poster (involving innovation, professionalismand media
market verisimilitude).
First of all, our final poster of course involves our main title centre page. This is used
to simply show significance to our film and to show our representation of our story.
A title is used as a first impression and symbolism, and so by presenting such a major
convention in the middle of the page, it allows it to act upon needed connotation
and representation. With the addition of the bold red colour, that is also a typical
horror convention, it links with high contrasts and ‘horror red’ implication. Red is
deemed an adjective of gore, blood, danger and warning. This further suggests what
is possibly involved in our film (giving small notions of our movie plot for an ‘edge of
the seat’ atmosphere for our viewers). It helps for extending attraction capabilities
and the advancement for comprehension and understanding. There is also small
parts that are red throughout and scattered on the poster; carefully spaces around
according to the composition and size of the main image, titling and size of the
poster. This is to balance the consistent contrasts through our coursework.
Alongside this we added the professionalismof a real world media market: credits to
those who involved themselves in our projects. This is typically used by many
production companies and poster/ merchandise distributors. It is placed in, carefully
and subtly, to not only act professional but also to show appreciation. Lunar
Productions followed these morals to ad verisimilitude to our project and help it be
more successful in a supposed filmmarket. If, in real world, an actor’s name was well
known and seen on the poster a person may feel the need to watch the film. It is also
based on simple and blue-printed attraction that isn’t as visually active but literary.
In my opinion a poster about a film must need aspects of not only image and colour
but text and symbolism; the more in depth a presentation of a poster the better the
response; more ‘footfall’ to a film.
Whilst all other higher layers and more simplistic layers work together, the main
image works well (and speaks volumes) on its own. Although the main image is a
dark one, it adds to the high contrasts that are definitely consistent so far. Clearly
the main image is a picture of a protagonist’s face which is almost emotionless yet
subtly glum. The ambiguous addition to a mysterious and melancholy face reels a
possible target audience in by suggested questions. A viewer might ask “Who is this

4. Alice Ward | Evaluation
person?”; “How do they contribute to the story?”; “What happens to them?” And so
this is a pure example of anticipation through active images.
The, all in all, framework of the poster is set out spaciously and not too busy, which
could be debated challenging or using a convention. Some posters are ‘super’ active
with a lot going on in the main image to overwhelm a viewer into wanting to stare
and observe what’s happening. However some other posters such as The Conjuring
(which is used in our inspiration and research) is more ‘laid-back’. This approach
helps a viewer to appreciate the simplistic statements made on the page that works,
contradictory, to a production company’s advantage. This then requires the bold,
clear and more highlighted other facets and conventions of a poster, which I think
are achieved in our project.
Magazine
Lunar Productions created a magazine alongside all other tasks as part of our
coursework. The use of an added magazine helps build up the building blocks of our
‘brand’ and representing merchandise. We chose to take on the typical framework of
the famous magazine company EMPIRE. By using such a famous magazine the
framework was more apparent, but could be said harder to follow up on leading
examples. Nevertheless we used similar or even congruent conventions of EMPIRE
magazine, or even challenged a few.
Firstly, our title remained bold and high contrasted against our gloomy and horror-
like main image. This being the logo of EMPIRE. On top of that (as magazines have
layers) there is an overlay of a noose. This is, like the poster, a symbolism of our film;
thus leaving ‘treats’ or snippets of our movie plot. And so a reader may have to not
just skim read but thoroughly engage in observing the front cover alone. In addition
to this, the overlay is a typically used convention of EMPIRE Magazine much like the
example of most protagonists placed on-top of the lettering. And with this comes
the use of the “Winter Special” and the “2016” mentioning. Through research of
others magazine examples I found that some more specialised and specific editions
to involve more ambiguous statements; making them bold for the viewer. This is
much like the “Coming Soon” in the poster and trailer (adding to consistency through
all given tasks).
Our text colour choices are, either white to conflict professionally with the
background, yellow or red. Yellow being amore brighter and highlighting notion to
show an un-missable opportunity in the magazine (like an interview or insight into a
story). Red being the consistency of the poster, which is the suggested blood colour
and gore. Linking to the colour, the background, main image, has an added effect of
shaded edges to help towards the horror notion. It brings everything overlaid to it to
‘pop’, but also shows the crafted implication of eeriness needed to portray a horror.
We did a few small challenges such as placement and composition. We added much
bigger social media logo’s to fill space and to show that we boldly interact in social
media for our project with our Facebook Page. We also didn’t choose to place the

5. Alice Ward | Evaluation
price between two peaks of the EMPIRE logo ‘M’. I placed it next to the typical
barcode at a much larger scale; this is because people today are greatly interested in
prices of things, and with our price being slightly reasonable I made it bolder and
more apparent to our audience. Likewise, a barcode is a notion of professionalismto
a product such as a magazine and so using such a convention is important for a
brand.
Within our magazine I also carefully placed a ‘still’ underneath a list of subtitles. By
using a ‘still’ it not only brings a linking consistency and ensemble of our Crow’s Field
collection. But it also allows a viewer/ reader to anticipate ore as to what may
happen in our movie plot but also lead to our trailer. The ‘still’ is of the vibrant
establishing/ long shot of the witch walking in the autumn setting (typically horror).
And so this brings together the impression of the knowledge Lunar productions has
as a company (on our brand). Many other editions of EMPIRE have ‘still’s’, and so
ours is a following example of this. By following up the convention shows we have
researched into editions such as X-men specials, Iron-man specials (Marvel).
In conclusion, Lunar Productions, within all tasks (main and ancillary) has tried to
remain in the verisimilitude of today’s media market and process. We have
researched previous editions, versions and successful trailers to make sure the use,
development or challenging techniques and conventions used and approached
exceptionally. We realised that consistency is key, alongside attraction and
professionalism; but also to find your own style in your own brand; Crow’s Field.
Challenging conventions is normally the reasoning of our own style, whereas using
and developing conventions is sticking with the blue prints and frame work of co-
existing distributed works of 2016-17.