The document summarizes how a student used various media technologies at different stages of creating a horror movie trailer for a class project. It discusses researching real horror movie trailers on YouTube and magazines to understand conventions. Planning involved using Word for a shooting schedule and online research for filming locations. Filming used Canon cameras and Photoshop to create Polaroid images. Editing the trailer used Final Cut Pro to cut footage and add effects. Photoshop was also used to design ancillary materials like a movie poster and magazine cover that complemented the trailer. Feedback on a draft led to changes like altering tone cards and adding dialogue and voiceovers.

1. In what ways does your product use, develop orchallenge forms and conventions of real
media products?
For our mediacourseworkwe hadwrote,planned,filmedandeditedahorrormovie trailer. We
decidedtocall our movie ‘The ChosenOnes’. Firstlywe hadlookedatotherhorror movie trailers
and the typical formsandconventionsof these trailers.Idecidedtobase the structure of our trailer
on a real mediaproductand followthe conventionsusedinthistrailer.Ibasedourtraileronthe
Texaschainsawmassacre trailerbecause of the structure andstory buildup.Forexample thistrailer
usedthe equilibriumstages.Firstly,there isaperiodof equilibriumwhichshowsausual dayina
normal environmentforthe charactersin the movie. InTexaschainsaw thisisthe firstpartof the
trailerwitha groupof friendsinavan driving,inourtraileritisthe maincharacters normal day,
fromwhenshe wakesupto whenshe isgoinghome fromschool. Secondwe witnessthe momentof
disequilibriumwhere somethingstrange ishappeninghoweverthe audience donotknow the actual
reasonfor itor what isactuallyhappening.Inthe Texaschainsaw traileritiswhenthe hitchhiker
stopstheirvan andsays ‘we’re all gonnadie’fromthispointonwards, the musicchangesandthe
atmosphere isverymysterious,the cutsbecome muchshorterandinthe Texaschainsaw trailer
there are a lotof cross-fade transitionsbetweencutstocreate a sequence of imagesforthe
audience buildinguptotell uswhatishappening.Inourtrailerthe momentof disequilibrium
happenswhenthe maincharacteris kidnapped, the cutsfollow the formsandconventionsof real
mediaproductsbecause like the Texaschainsaw trailerthey becomemuchshorter.Howeverwe
challengedthe formsandconventionsof real mediaproductsbyusingimagesinourtrailerinstead
of usingcrossfadeslike inthe Texaschainsaw trailer. Alsointhe moment of disequilibriumwe
notice thatthe mellowmusicfromthe startof the trailerstopsand there issilence tocreate a
mysteriousmood.Ourtrailerfollowsthisaswe have mellowmusicatthe start of the trailerwhich
stopsat the momentof disequilibriumandhassoundstocreate mysterybutoverall there isno
music. We thensee the periodof disequilibriumwhere we discoverwhatthe movie isabout.Inthe
Texaschainsawtrailerthe periodof disequilibriumconsistsof achange of musicthat becomesmore
upbeatandjumpyand the cuts are muchquicker,nolongerthantwo secondseach,insome there is
twocuts in a second.Ourtrailerfollowsthe formsandconventionsof areal mediaproductbecause
of the periodof disequilibriumbecausethe cutsbecome muchfaster,howeveritchallengesforms
and conventionsbecauseagainthe cutsare not fast enough. Ithinkanotherfactorwhichfollowed
formsand conventionsforourtrailerwasthe tone cards used. FirstlybothTexaschainsaw’sandThe
Chosenonestrailerusestone cardsto create a story andto helpthe audience understandalittlebit
aboutwhat ishappening.HoweverIthinkourtraileragainchallengedformsandconventions
because of the fact that the tone cards didnot reallymake sense howeverIfeel thisaddedtothe
tensionandmysteryandmade the audience wanttowatch itmore. The mise enscene of our trailer
createsa normal day as the costume usedisnormal everydayclotheshoweverwe dosee thatthe
character isin some sortof danger
How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary texts?
The combination of my main product and ancillary texts come together to create successful
advertisement and marketing for the film I am advertising. Using the trailer, a movie poster
and a magazine cover it has made advertisement more effective. For example if it was top
really be advertised these products would be everywhere, the trailer would be on the

2. television, the poster on billboards, bus stops and more, and also the magazine would be
seen in stores and would attract many movie enthusiasts who read empire magazine. The
theme of the movie itself we have kept up throughout the main product and ancillary texts
for example we have used the same text for the title of the movie and this text is in the end
of the trailer, on the front of the movie poster and is used as one of the cover lines in the
movie magazine. I feel this is effective because again, people will see this text and name
more often and it will become more familiar to them as they watch it and therefore they
will be more curious as to what the movie is about. Also, the features used in the ancillary
products connect to what is used in the main product therefore this would keep reminding
people about this filmso it is as though it is following them. For example, in the poster I
have used the Polaroid images that were used in the trailer making a direct link. Also the
font of the title of the film is very important and is the same in the main products and
ancillary texts, therefore again it reminds the audience and they begin to recognise what
they are seeing around them so that they become familiar with it.
What have you learned from youraudience feedback?
After showing our audience the first draft of our trailer, we had learnt that we had to make
plenty improvements to our trailer so that it fitted the audience needs. For example, we
were told that the text used in the tone cards was not scary enough and that it was too
bold, we then changed the font for the text and we also removed many tone cards because
some people felt that there were too many and it may have took up most of the trailer, so
we thought that it would be effective to take away the tone cards which only had one word
in them. Also we were told that there was not much speaking in the first draft, therefore we
changed this by making the volume of the music lower at points where the main character
spoke, for example when the boy came up to her in school, in the first draft, we could not
hear any dialogue, this has been changed so that we can hear what they are saying. Also, we
added voiceovers and made them sound as though they were coming through speakers so
that the audience could see that they are being said to the characters however as the
voiceover uses the word ‘you’ a lot this is effective because it interacts with the audience
and puts them in the place of the characters. The audience also liked the music we had used
in the trailer therefore we did not change it as it suited the trailer well.
How did you use media technologies in the construction and research, planning and
evaluation stages?
Firstly, we looked at real products and the codes and conventions of horror movie trailers so
that we knew what we could base our trailers on; we looked at these trailers on YouTube
and had reviewed them on programmes such as Microsoft PowerPoint. We did the same for
our ancillary texts, looking at different horror magazines such as Empire and Fangoria, on
Google images and the websites of these magazines, these were also analysed on Microsoft
PowerPoint. When planning we used Microsoft Word to create a shooting schedule. We also
researched locations online where we could film. In the construction stages, we used

3. Cannon cameras to film the scenes in our trailer, we also took pictures and used Photoshop
Adobe to create the Polaroid images so that they looked like police evidence. I also used
Photoshop Adobe for my ancillary products so that I could make a more realistic
interpretation of a horror movie magazine and a poster. In Photoshop Adobe I learnt to use
appropriate font and images. I also learnt how to manipulate the text and images I had
used, using different sizes and fonts and also editing photographs to perfect them or to
darken them even so that they fit in with the theme of horror. For the construction of our
main product, we used the programme Final Cut Pro to edit our footage and put our trailer
together. I learnt how to cut the footage and add effects to it such as a camera recorder
effect and distorted effects onto the footage. I also played with the sound in the trailer, for
example adding effects to the voiceover we had used. We used Adobe Aftereffects to make
tone cards instead of simply making them on Final Cut Pro. We also made our own studio
indent on Adobe Aftereffects so that we did not use an already made one.