1. CONVENTIONS There are a number of ways I have challenged the conventions of real media products within my own media product... The construction of my teaser trailer is not follow the same fundamental structure of most typical teaser trailers like The Haunting In Connecticut or The Strangers as it does not consist entirely of different snap shots/extracts from various scenes in the movie to obtain a over all vision/mood of the film. Similarly to BURIED and The Omen (as analysed on my blog) it is more like a short stream of footage from the film. We noticed that the pace of our trailer was pretty slow and didn’t want the stream of footage to become too boring for the viewer. To speed up the pace and break up the footage we added short, close up, pan shots of elements we wanted the audience to pick up on.. Blood portrays connotations of violence Tied up body parts portray a sense of being captured/held against their will. Blood stains reinforce aggression/violence

2. CONVENTIONS As well as the structure, I have also challenged the conventions of media products in terms of genre and representation. I believe we have subverted and challenged the typical connotations of childlike behaviour and the innocence associated with it to portray it in a more sinister light in order to build up an idea of the Psychological Horror type genre. The Omen does something similar. CHILDLIKE BEHAVIOUR SETTING The setting of our trailer is in daylight in a forest like location. This type of hidden, isolated location is somewhat stereotypical for a horror – refer to my here and here. The use of daylight however helps to convey a sense of normality as it’s not a very typically inconspicuous setting to store dead bodies as usually horror scenes are set in dark locations/dark lighting. Tea parties are usually played by children, conveying innocence. Also similar to picnics, which are again quite pleasant and social activities. On the contrary, we have paralleled this image (and the supporting nursery rhyme type music) with images connoting violence and death. To challenge their stereotypical representation into something more to do with ‘horror’. Overall I think we have successfully juxtaposed the portrayal of normality with the sense of abnormality.

3. CONVENTIONS PROTAGONIST COSTUME I have talked a little about the use of costume here and here. We wanted to represent our victims as ‘normal’ people so their costume is casual. This suggests that anyone could be a potential victim, as the character is so desperate to have ‘friends’. The masks not only act as a device to hide identity and look creepy but also show that she wants to dress her victims up and get them to be apart of her ‘games’, this shows her lack of remorse and understanding of social situations – suggesting the psychological element of the film. In terms of representation, females are usually seen as ‘weak’ and ‘vulnerable’ therefore, in horror type films they are often the victims. In our film we have reversed these roles and made our female character the murderer. This will challenge the audiences expectations. To emphasise this, she is wearing a dress, which is very feminine attire. This look is also based on Alice In Wonderland as we wanted to reinforce the theme of childlike behaviour, provoking empathy as connotations of innocence conflicts with the brutality of her actions. Also, in the trailer we have used a close up to show that this character is still alive; breathing and moving. All the others appear limp, and lifeless suggesting they are dead. This would then make the audience wonder why this particular character is still alive, and why he is featured more in the teaser trailer in comparison to others.