1. IN WHAT WAYS DOES YOUR MEDIA
PRODUCT USE, DEVELOP OR
CHALLENGE FORMS AND CODES &
CONVENTIONS OF REAL MEDIA TEXTS?
2. Codes are systems of signs, which create meaning. Conventions are the generally
accepted ways of doing something, there are general conventionsin any medium.
As an audience,when watching any kind of horror film, we will build up a schema
of what we expect to see based on past experienceswith the horror genre. – Robert
Warshaw. The audience will pick up hints throughout the film, these conventions
give the audience a sense of satisfaction whentheir expectationsare met. However,
this is often conflicted by films being made too predictable.Although it’s very
important to follow the codes and conventions of a subgenre,the audience can
become accustomed to them, and therefore these films are no longer exciting and
anticipating for the audience because they know what is going to happen. This is
why it is vital for producer to challenge conventionsto an extent to keeptheir
media product unique and stimulating for their target audience. Ultimately,an
effective horror film must be able to meet the expectations of their audience whilst
also bringing something new and innovative to their audience which will keepthem
captivated for the entirety of the film.
In order to make my film trailer
recognisable as such, I have used a range
of conventions which I have seen used in
real media products, this will give my own
products a sense of professionalism. As
with existing horror film trailers, I have
used setting and location to reflect the
horror genre and, in particular, the
supernatural sub-genre. The main plot of
our film ‘The Other Side’ is set in a large,
family home that is situated in an isolated
setting. This is first presented to the
audience in a conventional, but so effective
establishing shot. This setting is
conventional of the supernatural horror
genre and is also usually the first shot we
see as the audience, in a horror film trailer;
particularly as an establishing shot like
this one. ‘The Possession’ and its trailer
present a similar use of conventional
setting, with a house belonging to a family
which is eerie and instantly conjure s up
thoughts of spirits and evil. The use of this
convention inspired us in our choice of
setting and helped us to select one which
would carry instant meaning for the
audience.
The Possession was certainly the main
inspiration for our own media products out
of all of the existing texts we have looked
at. As well as the setting and location for
our trailer, we discovered that the majority
of successful supernatural films will base
their plotline around a specific prop, in the
case of The Possession, it is an old wooden
box. We decided we would base our own
plot around an old music box; similarly to
The Possession but also because this was
the most popular result from our focus
group. A music box highlights a sense of
mystery and the unknown which
incorporates perfectly with our film title.
Furthermore, the music box is a
connotation of childhood and nursery
rhymes; another common convention of
the supernatural genre is contrapuntal
sound.
Our media products however, slightly
challenges the conventions of supernatural
films because conventionally the storyline
will be based around a nuclear family
whereas we decided to plot my storyline
around a group teenage girls.
Other side
The
3. CONVENTIONS IN OUR TRAILER
The trailer starts with an equilibrium – contrast the dark
narrative
The entity comes from an object – Music box similar to that in
the film The Possession
The protagonist who becomes possessed is female
The setting for the film is in a large family home
Jump scares used in abundance
A montage of clips is used to demonstrate the climax of the
trailer
Contrapuntal sound to create an eeriness about the trailer
A sting is used at the end of the trailer as ‘the last scare’ to leave
the audience on edge.
Text inserts/taglines to cause curiosity for the audience
Straps, production studio and release date information
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0gBeG31fX40
4. MEETING CONVENTIONS
Regarding the ‘Possession’ trailer, and others similar
such as the Conjuring and Insidious, codes and
conventions are thoroughly met in order to become a
success, these trailers can be seen as a clear influence
on our own trailer, however can now be viewed as
antithesis’ of our final product.
In ‘The Possession’ trailer, each of the conventions I have
listed above, have been met rather successfully and
addressed at the relevant points throughout the trailer;
for example; a montage of clips showing the chaos and
trauma surrounding the possession of the protagonist,
Em.
The constructive nature of this trailer reflects
impeccably the lack of originality surrounding the
narrative of the film, yet it remains successful in its
attraction of its target audience by fulfilling these very
conventions that they would expect to see. Although ‘The
Other Side’ trailer is substantially different to this,
certain aspects of this trailer were particularly
influential in the production of our trailer. The use of
sound as the shots escalate into a montage of chaos is
predominantly powerful, therefore we took inspiration
from this and attempted to find and create a piece of
audio just as powerful as that used in ‘The Possession’.
‘The Possession’ also uses contrapuntal sound at the
beginning of the trailer to create equilibrium, this joyful
piece contradicts the dark eerie themes and
atmospheres will lurk within the trailer as we continue
to watch. We have also taken much inspiration from this
and attempted to create equilibrium ourselves.
5. In regards to other codes and conventions of horror film trailers, ‘The Other
Side’ also abides by the common convention of keeping the main entity
hidden in the trailer, we see only the impacts the entity has had. Almost
every supernatural horror trailer uses this convention and within our own
trailer we wanted this to have a lasting impression on our audience as well
as provide a gimmick for our film title – ‘The Other Side’ referring to what’s
inside the box comes from a different side to humans, the spirit world.
The existing supernatural horror film which does this well and I have
already taken a lot of inspiration from is ‘The Possession’. Although we are
able to see the objects which lie inside the box, we never physically see the
entity which takes over Emily’s body and transforms her into someone
unrecognisable to her family.
6. CHALLENGING CONVENTIONS
TRAILER
After continuous research and watching a variety of super natural horror trailers such as ‘The
Conjuring’, ‘The Possession’, and ‘Sinister’, I came to the conclusion that the dependence on codes and
conventions which these trailers all seem to relay led them to being very predictable and were almost
extensions of each other, they lose their own identity because they are all following the strict
conventions of their subgenre. The audience are no longer presented with something new but rather
just ‘another version’ of a pre-existing film. As a result, this forced my group and I to steer away from
the conventional direction which we were so adamant to be moving in. Consequently we wanted our
trailer to follow conventions to an extent so the audience were able to recognise which subgenre it
belongs to; supernatural but we also wanted our trailer to stand out and not be so predictable for our
audience. We will achieve this by apply the ‘repetition and difference’ technique to our trailer –
satisfying the audience by fulfilling their expectations but also including features unexpected by our
target audience.
8. Since we decided to challenge and alter the supernatural conventions
associated with our trailer, we felt it was necessary to show continuity and
therefore challenge conventions with regards to both our film poster and the
magazine front cover. Although, with these tow particular forms of media
there is less potential to challenge conventions as they are still images and
must therefore apply themselves to the conventions of their form in order to
be recognised within the genre.
In regards to our movie poster and teaser poster, it is clear to see how
conventions of a typical film poster of the horror genre were met. Concerning
the teaser poster, we were striving to keep the overall appeal as minimal as
possible – this meant removing institutional information (conventional)
which can distract the audience from the main image. The purpose of a
teaser poster is to arouse widespread attentions and to build up excitement
and create expectations through consumer curiosity from our target
audience, therefore we want to give away as little ‘clues’ as possible to leave
our audience thinking. While the teaser poster merely hints at the subgenre,
the official poster portrays the main image and the way the characters body
is morphed backwards suggesting to the audience a possession. In order to
continue individuality, we decided to disorientate and cover up the location
in the image, unlike most movie posters we didn’t want to convey to the
audience where the film is set, we wanted to keep as much of the film a
mystery as possible whilst still allowing them to work out the subgenre so
they can create expectations. On the other hand, our poster follows the
conventional layout of a film poster well. The main image situates in the
centre third of the page which is the main focus for the target audience (rule
of thirds), whilst institutional information is
listed at the bottom of the poster – the least
important feature on the page.
9. Empire is a British film magazine, issued on a
monthly basis by Bauer Consumer Media. The
magazine advertises big block buster movies from
a variety of genres; unlike ‘Fangoria’ which is a
horror-specific magazine. We decided to create
our magazine front cover in the style of those like
‘EMPIRE’ and ‘’Total Film’ – both of these
magazines follow similar codes and conventions.
The main image is always situtated in the centre
third because the main point of attraction for the
readership (rule of thirds) and this is also the
selling point for the magazine, it is the first place
the eye meets when we look at a magazine. The
main image usually advertises a new film coming
out and the image will always portray the actor/
actress in character; for example the picture of
Daniel Craig on the Total Film cover, he is in his
character of James Bond. As well as the empire
magazine, Leondardo Di’Caprio is in the character
of Cobb; this keeps the readers interets as the
readership are usaully arid film fans, as well as
being a good point for advertisement.
Both brands maintain brand identity through
their mast head. Although throughout issues the
magazine companies may change the colour of
their font, brand identity is maintained through
the font used, the size of the masthead and the
position of it on the page – this rule applies to all
companies and media prodcuts, not just
magazines.
“Our business is built on influential
media brands with millions of personal
relationships with engage listeners and
readers” - Bauer
10. “One goes to any individual example of the type
with very definite expectations, and originality is to
be welcomed only in the degree that it intensifies
the expected experience without fundamentally
altering it…”
Robert Warshow, 1970
“Some ‘mass production’ media with an overuse of
conventions can result in ‘personal expression of
the artist’ being lost”
The Cinema Book, Cook and Bernink ed
