In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

1. In what ways does your media product
use, develop or challenge forms and
conventions of real media products?
Harry Clinton

2. Trailer conventions
•
•
•
•
Movie trailers usually include conventions such as voiceovers, music, key
scenes, titles and key characters.
The conventions that I have used are music. This was an effective decision as it
brings tension to the trailer and makes it more dramatic. We also took the
decision not to include much dialogue within the trailer. This is effective as it
leaves the audiences asking questions such as who, where and what.
A key scene that we have included in our trailer is the one where the protagonist
is praying inside the church. This is a key scene because it is very different and
unusual to what other projects have used. Above all of this it also brings the
‘Horror’ feel to the genre with the scenery being inside of a church. Our research
showed that horror movies often contain subtle references to religion. This
spiritual location is contrasted with the dark, evil themes of our movie.
We have used titles throughout the trailers, specifically highlighting our slogan.
We took this decision so that the audience would have questions on there mind
which can only be answered by watching the film.

3. Poster conventions
•
•
•
My poster has many examples of typical industry conventions. The
main focus point of the poster is the silhouette image of the church in
the background of the poster. The black and white contrast on the
photo brings out the contrast between good and evil which is a key
theme within our project. The image of the church is very effective
because it is a key image within the project. It is shown throughout
the film, the poster and the trailer as I believe that this is the focus
point of the entire project and should be repeatedly used to show its
significance. Using this convention also enables the audience to
become familiar with a key setting within the movie.
The text I have used had a lot of thought go into it. I tried to use text
that looked evil but was bold enough on a black and white
background. The text that I ended up using was called ‘October
Crow’. This was found while looking on ‘dafont.co.uk’ and straight
away caught my eye as it was the perfect choice to use due to the
fact it looked like it was sketched and really brings the genre out onto
the poster. This font is effective within the aesthetics of our poster
because it reflects the horror genre and spiky nature of the plot.
The use of colour on the poster is a main theme that was
consciously considered. The black and white colours are opposites
just like good and evil which I have explained are the main themes of
the project. Although black and white is not very original on a horror
themed poster, I still chose this as it is very effective and a key
convention of the horror genre.

4. Website conventions
•
•
•
I have used a menu on my website because it is a key convention on
every website. A menu is effective because it allows the user to
navigate through the websites themselves. The menu style that I have
decided to use is very simple yet is still very effective. The buttons are
black and have a roll over graphic which turns red which our official
sign of a cross by the side. I have chosen the button to turn red as it
signifies blood in a horror genre and also looks more highlighted over
the black and white background of the website. This emphasizes the
branding of our promotional package.
Key images – Like I have explained before the key image on the
website is the silhouette of the church in the background. This shows
that the repetitiveness of the image shows its authority as a main
theme to the project. Even though the image covers all of the web
page, it is covered by the title on the top of the trailer, the trailer in the
centre of the website and the menu on the side of the website.
Trailer – The trailer is placed in the centre of the website to stand out
from the rest of the conventions that are on the website. This will
automatically catch the audiences eye as it in the centre of the web
page. This is an important feature as it helps to reinforce the key
scenes from the film.

5. Horror conventions
• During the filming process of the filming I have tried to
include as many horror conventions as I could. I have
used the themes of tension the most by introducing no
dialogue and more music that will keep the audience
on the edge of their seats.
• The suspense that the film leaves at the end also
leaves the audience asking a lot of questions.
• Although the film does not use many dark themes, we
have included snippets of a dark room which still
brings darkness into the trailer without making it the
main focus. This is very effective and dangerous as it
is unusual for a horror to not include dark colours.