media

1. EVALUATION QUESTION 1-
PART ONE
IN WHAT WAYS DO YOUR MEDIA PRODUCTS
USE, DEVELOP OR CHALLENGE FORMS AND
CONVENTIONS OF REAL MEDIA PRODUCTS?

2. Trailer: Electus
■ Task:
■ Our task that we had to complete at A2 was to produce 2 ancillary tasks which were the promotional
products of the film trailer we also had to accomplish, this included both a film magazine front cover
as well as a film poster, however, our main task at A2 was to create a full trailer lasting no longer than
2 minutes and 30 seconds. The film name was an idea put together by me and my group members as
we all agreed on the name revolving around “the chosen one” or “chosen”, As I suggested this name,
one of my team members suggested we should slightly change it into a different language to subvert
from common conventions of film titles which tend to be in English, and could be captivating towards
some audience members as it shows uniqueness and difference, in order to compromise our team
members suggestions we changed the title slightly into “Electus”, which stands for “The chosen one”
in Latin, We all decided to stick with this name as it compliments the chosen genre of our trailer which
is psychological thriller, this title name links to existing real media texts as psychological thrillers tend
to revolve around a specific individual which is usually possessed, or has very unusual behaviour (
such as the the film poster the lonely girl, phobia etc), as it is a hybrid genre, a sense of thriller and
horror are also included, which is why “Electus” suits our genre as we have one main protagonist who
is a psychopath and has 3 main chosen targets.

3. Target audience
As our chosen genre is psychological thriller, I had to aim to make both my
magazine front cover and film poster directly link to the genre as well as being
appealing to my target audience, in this case, my target audience aims to be
individuals who enjoy psychological thrillers, or horrors, due to the genre being a
hybrid, this allows my target audience to widen further. In order to reach the aims of
my target audience I had to do in-depth research on existing real media products that
are the same genre as mine, for example, I analyzed the film poster “phobia’, by
doing this, it allowed me to see what conventions are used and how this attracts the
target audience for individuals like myself that enjoy psychological thrillers. By
doing this research it pointed out certain conventions or characteristics the film
poster had. For example, I realised that psychological thriller film posters tend to
have distorted images to give a sense of confusion or suspicion, which is why I
blacked out my model's eyes on the poster as well as adding blood pouring out of
her eyes by using software's editing platforms such as Photoshop.

4. ANALYSIS OF A FILM POSTER PHOBIA

5. Existing real media products:
An existing real media product I analyzed and used as inspiration was the film
poster for ”PHOBIA”, I chose this film poster as it directly linked to my chosen
genre of psychological thriller and I knew I could gain inspiration from this or
use certain conventions, in order to conform to common conventions of
psychological thrillers. What I noticed in this front cover was that it gave a clear
understanding of what the genre is for the audience. For example the colours
black and dark blue were used in order to create a dull atmosphere which links to
the psychological thriller genre, this is due to a variety of film posters of the
same genre using a similar colour scheme each time(for example, the film the
lonely girl also uses a similar color scheme which is also a psychological
thriller), due to this occurring it creates distinctive conventions that stand out to
the audience and allows the audience to identify which genre is being promoted.
This links to the theory of John Fiske, which argues that genre is used to
categorize and divide each genre from each other and this is done by having
distinct conventions for each one, which directly links to this poster as it has
conventions which conform to psychological thrillers/horrors.

6. How did existing real media products inspire my conventions used in my final products?
LAYOUT:
A common convention of real media products is that within the layout of the page, the protagonist is usually placed in the middle and
tends to take up most of the space, as indicated in the poster Phobia, by looking at existing psychological thriller/ horror posters I was
able to get a more clear idea of the layout trend which gave me inspiration when creating my own film poster as I could then discover
my own creative ability plus conforming to certain aspects and conventions. For example, Layout.
My final film poster
As shown on the left the model is placed in the
middle of the page looking directly in the camera,
in order to conform to common poster conventions I
also placed my model in a similar position,
demonstrating how I conform to common
conventions, however, to further develop my skills
and creativity, I watched various Photoshop
tutorials on YouTube to develop my skills in
Photoshop and discover new tools that would be
useful when adding and developing my own
creative ability whilst creating my film poster e.g.
the burn tool. In addition to this, I also analyzed
other film posters such as “The lonely girls”, by
doing this as well as analyzing phobia it allowed me
to gain knowledge of common conventions but also
add my own ideas and abilities, demonstrating how
I developed conventions of real media products.Film poster: Phobia

7. My final film poster Influences and inspiration of real media
products
From analysing psychological thriller posters to horror and thriller only
posters, this gave me a wide range of ideas and inspiration for my own film
poster, for example I realised with horror and thriller films the front cover
tends to bring most of the attention to the eye or eyes, which is what creates a
sense of fear and horror. In order to slightly conform to this convention, I also
focused most of the editing and attention on the model's eyes as this is where
consumers tend to look first, this demonstrates how my media product uses
real media conventions. However, I also attempted to develop the conventions
and add my own creative ideas and abilities, for example, I decided to change
my background and make it quite simple in order to put most of the attention
on the models face and in particular the eyes, furthermore, I also added fake
blood through Photoshop to conform to my chosen genre and add a sense of
horror and fear.

8. In what ways does my magazine front cover challenge, use or develop real media products?
In a similar manner, throughout year 12 and 13 I analyzed a variety of magazine front covers, which allowed me to discover a
common trend of conventions, for example, the masthead and headline almost always being included in the front cover, and sell-lines
also being a key convention. Furthermore, I began to discover magazine front covers of my chosen genre and genres which can also
relate to my chosen genre as it was more difficult to find magazines which directly link to psychological thrillers, therefore I explored
and analyzed magazines as it allowed me to gain inspiration of the layout or colour scheme.
Layout and colour scheme:
I realised that through analyzing several magazines it
allowed me to expand my creative ability and skills,
for example on the right I decided to slightly subvert
from common conventions of how many models tend
to be included in the front cover as I decided to add 3
models instead of 1 model, showing how I subverted
and developed my own ideas when creating the layout
of my film magazine front cover. Furthermore, I also
realised that there was a small colour palette used in a
variety of real media product magazines, this also
allows a house style to be created and makes it more
appealing to the target audience. In order to conform
to some conventions of real media products I decided
to choose 3 main colors to be used on my magazine
front cover and made sure it links to my chosen genre,
for example, the main colors chosen were red and
black, this links to psychological thrillers as it links to
death, suspicion and danger.
My film magazine front
cover

9. Influences of real media products:
LAYOUT:
Through analyzing real media products such as
SFX I realised a trend in the layout of horror
based magazines, for example, I noticed that
horror magazines tend to have an image that
pops out and takes up most of the page, these
images also tend to be slightly strange or have
frightening facial expressions. Furthermore, as
well the Gorezone magazine this magazine also
influenced my final magazine front cover, for
example in this magazine three characters were
used which is not so common in magazines,
however I also took this idea on board and
placed three of the main characters in my trailer
on the front of the magazine cover, however It
can be argued that placing 3 models at the front
is subverting from conventions due to this not
being a common convention, showing how I
challenged a certain layout convention.
Colour scheme:
The colour palette in this magazine is
also small as it mostly consists of red,
blues and white, furthermore, the colours
used on this poster can be argued to
conform to horror/thriller genres due to
the common use of red, this allows
consumers to instantly know what genre
is being promoted as red is usually
associated with horror, death etc. This
gave me inspiration to what sort of
colours I wanted to use in my magazine
and how large the colour palette would
be, I did this through experimenting with
the website colour coolers., This allowed
me to use and conform to some colours
of existing real media products, however
I also changed the brightness, saturation
and contrast on Photoshop in order to add
my own creative ability.

10. ■ Mise-en-scene refers to the different elements included in a movie, this can include costumes, location, and props, low-key/high
key lighting etc.
■ Furthermore, low-key lighting is often seen in horror/thriller real media products as well as psychological thrillers, this is done
as it compliments the genre, due to often having horror scenes and intense moments, which allows the suspense to increase and
attracts the audience.
■ In order to conform to this convention when creating my final products, I conformed to common lighting conventions(of real
media products) when editing my poster, I done by decreasing the brightness as well as the saturation on Photoshop. An example
of a real media product that I used as inspiration in doing this is shown below:
In what ways do your media products use real media conventions?
MISE-EN-SCENE:
In order to create low-key
lighting, these are the
editing techniques I used
to create the effect, as well
as using my creative
ability and ideas on what
the lighting should should
look like, I also took
inspiration from the film
poster “lonely girl”, this
demonstrates how I used
common conventions by
being inspired on existing
real media products. Film poster: Lonely girl