The document discusses how the media product conforms to and challenges conventions of real media. It summarizes how the poster conforms to conventions like including institutional information at the bottom, the title being the largest text, and using horror color schemes. It challenges conventions by using white text instead of red for the title. The magazine cover conforms to conventions like placing the masthead at the top and using a close-up main image. It challenges conventions by placing the price in the left margin instead of hidden. The trailer conforms to slasher conventions like including reckless teens and a masked killer. It challenges conventions by using a brunette instead of blonde for the "sacrificial lamb" character

1. Question One
In what ways does your media product use, develop and challenge forms and codes
and conventions of real media products?
Codes and conventions are very important and also very helpful for media practitioners. A clear
guide is given to the practitioners as to what is usually expected. However, there is still space to
challenge these expected rules.
Poster
Institutional information is presented at the bottom of the page, in a smaller than the others in
the frame. This is similar with both my poster as well as Friday the 13th an existing media film
poster, highlighting the idea that I am conforming and using this existing convention to benefit
me as it is already shown to be successful in existing media products.
“Coming soon” is placed nearby/around the institutional information, again using an existing
convention of film posters. They more often than not come as a pair, it would be confusing for
the audience to then replace this piece of text, which is why I believed it would be better of
sticking to the convention. Ig the audience are unable to find when the film is being released,

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they might not bother following it up and therefore might not end up going to watch the film
because of this.
One thing I could have developed further is adding an actual release date enabling the audience
to become even more engaged with the poster as well as the film in order for them to be more
eager to watch it as they would know the exact date and would therefore keep it in their mind.
This is not present on all film posters, as the coming soon acts as a tease. However, in Friday
the 13th it is present, and is placed at the very bottom of the page, below the institutional
information. Meaning that this will be the last piece of textual information the audience see and
therefore will be the last thing in their minds so it will be unlikely for them to forget it.
The title is the biggest and most attractive piece of text in the frame allowing the audience to
understand and establish it as the title of the film. This is common in all media products, as it
would be confusing for the audience if this was not made clear to them and may think in some
cases that the tagline is in fact the title. Commonly in horror posters especially the title is written
in a red font, as it is in Friday the 13th. My poster challenges this convention as it is written in
white, which is not conventional for a slasher film, it is more conventional within physiological
and spiritual horrors. However, this red blood splatters allow the audience to understand that it
is a slasher. The main reason we did this was because when producing our poster, after many
different font testers as well as colours, we could not seem to find a red that we liked and think
suited our poster, so we experimented further and believed that white was a better option.
However, we needed to ensure an element of slasher was implemented which is where the
blood splatters came into it.
The antagonist is the only character presented on the poster, giving the audience an insight to
whom is behind the killing in the film. Based on previous research, this was the most attractive
character to have, which is why we opted for this decision. Additionally, it is a convention of
horror posters, therefore because it was a successful convention we decided to stick with it in
order to make our poster as successful as possible. Furthermore, similarly to Friday the 13th
whereby the antagonist is wearing dark, baggy clothing and a mask, we believe this is effective
as you get to see the antagonist in the form the characters do, as well as this choice of costume
being effective, we choose to do the same and conform with this convention as it is typical of
horror and will be what the audience expects to see.
The colour scheme is predominantly black, white and red as expected in a horror film poster,
more importantly in a slasher film. The colour black represents the idea that the antagonist
himself is dark, evil and twisted as well as that the killings themselves take place during the
night, which is when it is dark. The colour white represents the innocence of the victims, as well
as their purity, they are being targeted for no reason. Lastly, the colour red represents the
brutality of their deaths and gives denotations to the idea of plenty of blood being apparent in
the film. These colours are very conventional on slashers therefore we followed this convention
as by not using them we may confuse the audience regarding the sub-genre.

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The location of image is predominantly where the film takes place. It was taken where we
filmed. By adding the location in the background we aimed to give the audience an insight to the
narrative, portraying that it was going to be based in the woods. By doing this, we aimed to
further attract the audience to wanting to watch the trailer and become more involved in our
promotional package. By having a location in the background is very conventional in horror films
across the board not just in slashers, it is present in “Friday the 13th
” as well as “Insidious” and
the audience will be able to incur that the location in the background is the main focus of the
film, which is why we decided to follow this convention.
Magazine Front Cover
The second aspect of our promotional package was to create a magazine front cover. I decided
to go for the classic film magazine look such as Empire and Total Film, that is a general film
magazine instead of horror specific magazine like Fangoria.
The masthead is written at the top of the page, where it is conventionally placed. By doing this it
is therefore evident to the audience that this is the name of the magazine, which is further
emphasised by the size and boldness of the text. For this particular feature of the front page, I
did not think it was something that should be challenged as it would take away the
professionalism of the cover as well as would confuse audiences therefore I followed the codes
and conventions and placed the masthead in its signature location within the frame.

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The skyline is as where it says, at the very top of the page, above the masthead, but not big
enough to confuse it as the masthead. It is not always a convention to have a skyline, it is
apparent on some magazine front covers like on Empire and Total Film but on other editions it is
not present. However, we decided to follow the convention and add in a skyline to make it look
more professional. Additionally, it gives the audience a bit more extra information that could not
be presented in a different way such as in a sell line.
The main image is a medium close up, one of many different camera angles used on a
magazine front cover. We decided to use this as we thought it was one of our better pictures as
it is at a slightly low angle shot making the antagonist look dominant. Also, it is close up enough
to see the detail in the mask meaning that the audience will be able to remember it and create a
symbiotic link between our entire promotional package. I believe we followed conventions both
from shot type as well as the main image filling the frame. This convention was important to
follow as it has established to be successful across many front covers, therefore by challenging
it and have a photo that does not fill the frame would make our front cover look amateur, and
the audience would be less engaged as they would have to look closer at it instead of it being
attention grabbing.
The main sell line is conventionally there to support the main image and give the audience an
insight to the feature film. It is conventional for the main sell line to include the name of the film
in order to promote it further. This is a convention I intended to follow because it allows the
audience to recognise the film as well as want to find out more about it, such as behind the
scenes or exclusive interviews. On the contrary, if the audience do not recognise the film, the
main sell line would let them recognise this.
Sell lines are used in order to further convince the audience to want to purchase the magazine,
they are conventionally placed in the left hand third, as you can see on Empire. I think that this
is the most effective layout as the audience will read from left to right, which is why I have
followed this conventions. Furthermore, I think that if I placed sell lines on both sides it would
look far to crowded and messy.
A pug is usually placed in the bottom left hand corner hidden. It consists of a barcode and
usually the date, price and edition. This is placed hidden away so that the audience can take in
all the information from the front page before looking for the price. This is not something that is
placed on Empire’s front cover, it is placed on some and not on others. This could be maybe
due to the fact some editions might have a cover mount around them whereby the barcode
would be placed. However, due to the style of my front cover placing it in its conventional place
would look odd in my opinion so I therefore challenged the convention and placed it vertically on
the left hand side.

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Puff’s are usually very common on magazine front covers however this is unapparent on
Empires front cover. On my front cover, the puff is presented on the left hand side of the page in
an oval shape. This splits up the text on the page, and makes the magazine front cover look
more visual rather the verbal. Which is why I decided to follow this convention in order to make
my magazine look more attractive.
Trailer
This was the most complex and time consuming section of this coursework, therefore, more
time and more research was needed in order to make it as effective and realistic as possible.
The main inspiration came from Friday the 13th, it is one of my all time favourite slasher films
and was also one of the main reasons I wanted to focus my promotional package towards this
sub genre. Furthermore, I think the general structure of the trailer and the two montages; the
first of the teenages having fun and the second one where everything goes wrong, is attractive
and it something I wanted to implement in my own media product.
● Friday the 13th trailer - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NVsVKn-MS14
● Deadwood Grove trailer - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j8O_bAOIf7c

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The first thing I had to do was to insure that I used enough iconography to successfully present
the sub genre to my audience and for them to identify it as a slasher. One way I believe I did this
was portraying the group of teenages to be rebelious; being somewhere they shouldn’t be and
drinking underage. One way this was presented further was by the use of their being a sensible
character that recognising that they should not be there, who takes on the role of the ‘final girl’ a
convention that is established in all slasher films.
Otherway iconography was presented was through the way that the killer was always seen
wearing a mask, baggy black clothing and would be carrying a knife. This is something I
believed signaled the slasher genre, as an axe would cause lots of blood and gore. This is
conventional across all slasher trailers, such as Scream whereby ghost face is always seen
wearing his mask, black baggy dress and carrying i knife.
Furthermore, different characters are assigned different roles in slashers, which ultimately
decides their fate. There is usually a blonde character who represents the ‘sacrificial lamb’.
Blondes are seen as dopey and can be described as ‘blonde bimbos’ therefore it is not
surprising that they end up dying first. This is present with both Chelsea in Friday the 13th as
well as Casey in Scream. Based on those who we had available to film, we were unable to get a
female with blonde hair which could effectively make our trailer less effective, as instead we had
to use a brunette. However, I believe that through the actions it is clear which character takes on
the role in our trailer. Antonia is the smallest in the group and is seen holding Stanley's hand
and drinking excessive amounts of alcohol, from this the audience will only see danger and can
only seeing the outcome being one thing, death.

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Another character that stands out is Selina, the final girl. The final girl is usually renowned for
being the serious one and spotting bad situations from the offspring. At the beginning of the
trailer Selina establishes that it is a bad idea, later on we see her again angered at the idea that
they were lost. Furthermore, we see all the other reckless teenagers being tortured by the
killing. However, at the end of the trailer we see Selina by the car, insinuating that she has a
chance of survival.
Another key convention that makes a huge impact on a trailer is the non-diegetic added in within
the post production stage in order to increase the intensity of the trailer. As the trailer goes on
the music becomes more intense, this combined with the action on screen gets the audience
adrenaline pumping and effectively makes them want to continue watching the trailer and then
on to watch the actual film. This is a convention I believed was very important to conform with as
I believe the action and sound should mimic one another and it also adds to the effectiveness of
the trailer.
Other sound effects that are conventional are stab sounds of the weapons being used. For
example in Friday the 13th everytime someone is killed, before the screen cuts to a number, the
sound of the weapon that was used is played. I find this effective as the audience will begin to
feel fear, and it would make their skin crawl. This is why I implemented it into my own trailer.
The way in which it was done was by dragging the axe across the bridge as well as the poles.
By doing this, the audience will be aware that this is the killer's signature murder weapon and
might get nightmares themselves from the recall of the sound.

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