Evaluation question 1

1. Evaluation1
In what ways does your mediaproduct use, developor challenge forms and
conventions of real media products?
Our task wasto create a 2-4 minute horrortrailer,witha magazine coverandposterto accompany
our trailer.Each of these mediatextshave theirownseparate convention,aswell asthe horror
genre as a whole.Thismeansthatwe had a large amountof conventionsthatwe couldadhere toor
challenge. Tostartoff I will talkaboutthe conventionsof atrailer.
Trailerconventionsare usedandchallengednomatterwhatthe genre of the trailer,we researched
these bywatchingmultipletrailersand notingdowntheirkeysimilarities,anddiscussedwhether
theywere effective tothe trailersobjective.We foundthatalmosteverytrailerwe watchedused
titles,avoice over,andincludedkeyscenesfromthe filmitself.We agreedthatwe shoulduse and
developon these,withinourowntrailer.We agreedtouse the tiles,because itwasadifferentway
of feedingthe consumerinformationaboutourproject,usingasingle streamof informationwould
have beenboringandit wouldhave hinderedthe effect we wantedtogive off. Withthisinmindwe
decidedonseventitlesthatwill be placedatkeypointswithinthe trailer.These titlesincluded:our
tagline,ourproductioncompany,ourleadactressandthe name and release date of ourfilm.
We usedourtag line as the three titlesbecause we wantedtouse itas a linkto our posterand
magazine.Thisissimilartothe developmentonthe tagline usedtopromote movies,suchasalien.
The quote “In space,no one can hear youscream” isverymemorable. We wantedtorecreate a
memorable tagline,we didthisbyusingthe rule of three.Usingthe tagine three timesitwill be
more memorable toouraudience. The tagline wasusedwithinourtrailertotell the audience alittle
aboutour plot,ina subtle way.We didthisbecause itcausesthe audience tothinkaboutwhatit
couldmean,playingonthe audiencesmindintriguesthemtofindoutthe answerto theirquestions
by watchingourfilm. The othertitlesare verybasic,and are usuallystaple forall filmtrailers.We
followedthisconventionbecausewe believe thatitisan effective wayof informingthe audience of
our filmsname andrelease date.
A voice overcan be usedintwo mainways,the voice overcan talkthroughoutscenesandnotbreak
the 4th
wall directly.Usinganactor or actressesvoice toexplainthe storyof the trailer,indirectly
informingthe audienceaboutthe situation.The secondtype of voice overreadsoutthe titles.
“Comingsoon”“(FilmName)”thisisusedintrailerswhere theyuse the sound,formthe scenesto
tell the storythisconventioniscommonincomedyandromance filmsbecause theyuse the scenes
fromthe trailertorelayinformationtothe audience.We decidedtouse the firstvoice over
conventions.Thisisbecause we believeditfittedwiththe theme of ourfilm, aswe are havinga
patientwe agreedthathavingsomeone readapatientfile asourvoice overwouldbe aneffective
linktothe filmsplot.While alsotellingthe audience aboutthe backstorytoourfilm. Thisisa
developmentonthe firstvoice overconventionbecause we have the voiceoverasour ownseparate

2. character, suggestingthatthe audience isjustaflyonthe wall watchingthe scenesunfold,this is
supportedbythe playtheoryexplanationas towhypeople enjoyhorrormovies.
A conventionthatisviewedinalmosteverytrailermade nomatterwhatthe genre,iskeyscenes
fromthe movie.Thisconventionwasusedbyourgroupbecause itwouldbe nearimpossible to
make a trailerwithoutusingkeyscenesfromthe filmitself.Whileplanningourtrailerwe hadto
come up witha full plotanddecidedthe scenesthatwe were goingtouse fromthat. In filmtrailers,
theyuse scenesfromas the beingmiddle andend.Usuallythe scenesthatare the most
representative of the filmsgenre.Foracomedyfilmtheywoulduse theirbestjokes.Andfora
horror filmtheywoulduse ajumpscare to spookthe audience. Thisinspiredourchoice of scenes,
influencingourdecisiontouse a jumpscare withinourtrailer,originally,thiswaslatertakenout
because ourfilmwasn’taboutscaringthe audience senseless,itwasaboutmakingthe audience
questiontheirexistence thusmakingajumpscare redundanttothe plot,and suggeststhatthere are
conventionsforsubgenresaswell asregulargenres.
The regulargenre conventionsare more cutand dry,whereassubgenre conventionsare often
changedand challenged.Ourgivengenre washorror,thismeantthatwe had to researchthe
conventionsof the horrorgenre.The firstconventionof ahorror isisolatedsettings,using
abandonedwarehouses,andcharactersbeingalone inforests.We developedthisconvention,and
usedmental isolationinsteadof physical isolation.Althoughourmaincharacterisoftenseenalone,
we wantedto portraythat she was alone inherown mind.Asour filmismainlysetIthe mindof
Natasha,a suffererof depression,we wantedtouse the physical isolationtoportraythe metal
isolationthatpeople thatsufferdepressioncanexperience,suchasour maincharacter Natasha.
Horror movies,especiallyparanormal andsupernatural,use irrationalsettingsintheirfilms,this
conventionwashardto follow,howeverwe triedtocreate the irrational byhavingtwosplitworlds
that were of our maincharacters creation.We
chose to do thisbecause we wantedthe audience
to believethatthiswasa possibility,andthat
eitherworldcanhappentosomeone.The realism
inour filmisan effectivewaytospookthe
audience because itcanmake themcontemplate
theirexistence whichisthe desiredeffectof our
film.
Deathand blood,thisconventionisnotascommoninpsychological horrorscomparedtoslasher
horrors.We usedthisconventioninourfilmbecause we wantedtoshow the gorypastof our main
character. Our storyfollowsthe deathof herboyfriend,she isthe reasonthathe was killedandwe
wantedtouse bloodandgore to make the image of Cartermore disturbing.Thiswaseffective
because ithelpsexplainwhyshe wouldneedpsychological help,andhow commonpractisesmay
not have hadan effectas she haskeptthe goryimage of her boyfriendinhermind.
Coloursare usedto subtlyrepresentgenre,forthe horrorgenre people would
associate darkcoloursand deepreds.Redandblack beingfavouredformanyhorror
postersas the blackhas dark connotationssuchasdeathand the unknown.
Whereasredsignifies bloodandpassion. We challengedthisconventioninour
posterbecause we didnotneedtoshow bloodinour project.Insteadwe used
green,thisisbecause the connotationsof Greenlinkedwiththe plotof ourfilm.
Greenhas beenobservedtoreduce the effectsof depression.Therefore,using

3. greenas our maincolouralongwithblackis effective,because ithasa deepermeaningaswell asit
standingoutagainstotherhorror movie postersandmagazines.
For our filmwe discussedusingaclearProtagonist/Antagonistsplitinourcharacters.We decided
that we were goingtouse a doctor,separate to the narrator, be our antagonistsothat our main
character can looklike the stories‘hero’howeverasitis revealedthatNatashawasthe reasonher
boyfriend dieditdoesoutmake herthe perfectherobecause she isto blame forhisdeath.Thislinks
withthe final convention.Conflict,mosthorrorfilmsshow some kindof conflict,eitherinternal or
external.We decidedtofollowthisconventionanduse aninnerconflict.We are focusesonSanityvs
Insanityinourfilmone Natashaisdeemedinsane where the otherside it’snormal.If we were to
make the full filmwe were goingtopushthatthe ‘Normal’worldwasthe sane one andthat she
neededtoescape the insane worldhoweverwe wantedtodeveloponthe conflict,the XvsY
conceptwas changedsothat the conflictwasn’tsoobviousadthat the audience neededtofigure
out whichworldwasthe sane one.We didthisbecause we wantedthe audience todoubttheir
opiniononthe filmandmake themsecondguesswhatwe leadthemtobelieve.
Overall,we have developeduponmanyof the conventionsof the horrorgenre.Thisisbecause we
wantedtomake a quintessential psychological horrormovie thatwasidentifiableandshowedthe
genre that we were portraying. We agreedthatchallengingtoomanyconventionswouldbe
detrimental,andhave the opposite effectthatwe wantedtoportray.
Poserformsand conventions.There are fourkindsof posterthatwe
couldhave created,we lookedatthe conventionsandexample of all
fourand had to decide whichwe were goingtoproduce forour
project.The fourkindsare,teaser,maintheatrical,DVDrelease and
character Poster.The firstposterwe saidno to wasthe character
poster.Thiswasbecause we were makingamagazine coverthat
woulduse ourmaincharacters he focal image.Thismeantthat
havingtwomaincharacter imageswouldhave made the two
productsverysimilar. We alsoremovedthe DVDrelease fromour
listbecause we were creatingafilmtrailer,itwouldbe betterif we
didall three of the tasksinthe mind-setthatourfilmwill be coming
out inthe near future.Allowingutokeepsimilardatesonall three
projects.
ThisleftuswithMain theatrical thathad a lot of filminformation,andteaserthatincludedverylittle
aboutthe filmsplotandwasveryinconspicuous.We chose the maintheatrical poster,butwe
decidedtouse some of the conventionsfromateaserto create a hybridbetweenthe twotypesof
poster.
Conventionsof postersinclude,the name of the film, release date,taglineandthe actors namesand
a focal image as standard,some postershave additional informationsuchasthe filmscreditsand
reviewsaboutthe filmfromcritics.

4. The conventionsregardingthe tile of the film,usually
referstotheirpositioning.Byconventionthe name of the
filmislowonthe postersothat the Image can be the
focusof the posteras the consume readsfromtop to
bottom. The image tothe right showsa small sample of
filmposters.The image showsthatmanypostershave
theirfilmtitle quitelowtothe bottomof the poster.This
isone of the conventionsthatwe will be challenging
because we feel itwouldbe farmore effective if the title
was higherupon ourposter.Thisis because of the focal
image that we used.Manyof these postershave quite a
large amountof visual cues,suchas background
characters andscenery,the title beinghighupwouldtake focusfromthese images.Forourposter
we are takinga more minimalisticapproachandusingthe simplisticimage allowsustoreposition
the texton our postertobe more spacedout. We challengedthisconventionbecause havingthe tile
at the topdraws the readersgaze to the verytop of the postermakingthemreaddownand seeing
the largestamountof ourposteras possible.
Release datesare notalwaysincludedonmovie posters,astheyrelyof othermediumstorelaythis
informationtotheiraudience.Aswe donothave access to these mediatextswe have includedour
release date onthe posterof our film.This challengeof the posterconventionshasallowedusto
Bulkup the informationthatwasinour posteras itis include alotof emptyspace.The positionwas
an effectivechoice because itdrawsthe attentiontothe surroundingcredits.Thisincludesthat
namesof the actors anddirectors,the reasoningbehinditisthatseeingsomeone’sname you
recognise candrive someone towatchthe filmmore thana flashypostercan.
Our tagline Ia common elementbetweenourthree productsandacts as a bridge betweenall three.
Havingthe tagline ona posteris a verycommonconventionof movie poster,thisisbecause itisan
effectivemarketingstrategy.Havingacatchy/memorable tagline canincrease the audience of the
filmtenfoldbecause itreplaysonthe mindof the audience.We have triedtoreplicate tiseffectwith
our tagline,Ibelieve thatwe were successful because ourtagline isveryambiguous.Thismeansthat
the audience maybe intriguedandtryto findanswerstowhat we are presentingtothem.“Whatis
the accident?”We wantto inspire thisquestioninthe mindsof ouraudience.
The focal image of the posteristhe mainbodyof the mediatext,thisimage iswhatdrawsthe most
attention andisusedto tell the mostamounta film.Fora maintheatrical trailerthere are twotypes
of imagesthatcan be used.A Minimalisticimage thattellslittle aboutthe filmbuthasalarge effect
or an informative picture thatisfull of informationaboutthe filmitself.The twoposterstothe side
show the differentimagesusedforthe
Avengersmovie.Onthe leftisaminimalistic
image of the avenger’slogo.Thisflashy
postercapturesthe eye andinspires
investigation.Whereasthe posteronthe
rightcapturesthe eye andimpressesthe
audience.
We decidedto use the metronome onour
posteras the focal image because itis quite
minimalistic,we weren’tgoingtohave large
actionscene so an informativeposter

5. wouldn’thave beeneffectiveforourproject.The metronome iseffective becausethe metronome
itself isshrouded.Those whodon’tknow whatone iswill be mystifiedbythe sightof itand those
whoknowwill understandthe linkbetweenthe posterandthe trailerasa pianoscene isincluded.
Andone of the usesof a metronome ishelpapianistkeeptoasteadybeat.
Magazine cover conventionsare similarnomatterwhatthe
genre,whenanalysingreal magazine coversthere were afew
observable conventionsthatwascommonthroughoutall that
we lookedat.For example the tileof the magazine wasalways
at the topof the cover,thisisbecause itis the brand their
magazine companyhascreated.Howeverwe have noticed
that the imageswill sometimesoverlapthe tile hidingsome of
the letters,thisisbecause the magazine isonotable the tile
isn’tfullyneeded.We have notusedthisconventionbecause
we are usingan ‘Indie-movie’magazine thatwillnotbe as
well-knownasEmpire magazine.
The other articlesthatare usedonmagazine frontcoversare
there to attract the wideraudience.We have developedthis
by usingplayonwordson both the articlesaboutourfilmand
aboutthe otherfilms.The sayingFemme Fatalewaschanged
to Femme Fatal as a playon wordhintto a plotof a move that Shailene Woodleyhasstarredin.We
have seenthisusedona fewmagazinesandbelieveditwouldbe effective toimplementintoour
ownproduct.
We have usedthe tagline f ourfilmunderneathourtitle.Aspreviouslymentionedinthisessay,we
didthisto create a bridge betweenthe three productsthatwe have made.Followingthe One,Two,
Three theme we have beenable tocreate a brandfor our film.Thisisa conventionusedbymany
franchise movies,we have usedthisbecause itisaneffective marketingstrategyandhelpscreate a
buzzfor our product.
Overall of our three productswe have followedthe majorityof the conventionsof the four
categories,thiswasbecause we wantedtocreate a horrormovie withthe quintessential horror
movie theme andfeel.Withoutthese conventionsitmayhave workedagainstusandmade our
film’sgenre unrecognisable.All of the decisionswe have made concerningthe formsand
conventions of ourproducts have beentoincrease the meaningof ourfilm, aswell ashelpportray
the realismswe we’re hopingthe audience wouldnotice.