1. IN WHAT WAYS DOES
YOUR MEDIA PRODUCT
USE, DEVELOP OR
CHALLENGE FORMS
AND CONVENTIONS OF
REAL MEDIA
PRODUCTS?
Rishika Bhalla
2. Horror Film Trailer
Conventions
Mis En Scene:
Costume:
Evil girl: white clothing
Teens: casual clothing
Lighting:
Dark Lighting
Make up
Bruised and dark make up for the bad
character
Props
Saw, knife, signifies evil persons
personality
Setting:
Mysterious and challenging environment
Sound
Eerie music, fast paced, tense
Characters
Dominate male, final girl theory, evil
girl is seeking revenge
Camera and editing
Fast paced editing, fade in/outs,
close ups, range of camera angles
Titles
Promote film, carry storyline
Themes
Fear, good vs. evil
3. How generic Mis En Scene Was
used, developed or challenged in
my trailer
Costume: The costumes for the teenagers within my film trailer were decided through research into heavily
teenaged based horror films such as ‘final Destination’. In the Final destination films each character wears
casual clothing but the style of clothing is unique. In my film trailer the teens are also wearing casual clothing,
all similar to one another but different styles to suit the personality of the character in order to give the
audience more of an insight into the characters and their individual selves instead of viewing them as a group
constantly.
In order to determine what costume should be worn by the ‘evil girl’ Rosie in our film trailer we did research
into films that contained female horror figures for example ‘The Ring and The Grudge’. The figures in these
films seem to wear a plain white gown, so we adopted this idea for our film trailer as well. However we altered
the costume choice, by placing blood on her gown and making it dirty to reflect how she is not a pure soul yet
is a hateful one seeking redemption.
Generic
costume
Our
Costumes
4. How generic Mis En Scene Was
used, developed or challenged in
my trailer
Lighting: Our research into films with a similar location to ours, such as the
Blair witch project, suggested that complete darkness was the most
effective lighting technique, with the rest of the trailer consisting of limited
lighting. In our trailer we placed a limited lighting tint on the start and end
scene to add to darkness of the horror trailer. However for our scenes in the
woods we challenged the convention of complete darkness, and ensured it
was gloomy and a little dark instead. We chose to do this as it adds to the
personal fear experienced by the audience, as it makes them weary that
this is all happening mid day in the open having them extend their fear so it
is not just restricted to the night time and the complete dark.
Gloomy
lighting
5. How generic Mis En Scene Was
used, developed or challenged in
my trailer
Make up- From the research we conducted we identified that the evil figure
within the film never had a clear face, and it was always covered with
bruises and dirt. For our trailer we made rosies face bruised and dark which
adheres to the convention. This was challenged however as Rosie is not
fully revealed in the trailer but she is shown up close on in the poster and
magazine which enhances the mystery of who she is, as well as the
audiences desire to find out.
Generic
Make Up
Our
Make Up
6. How generic Mis En Scene Was
used, developed or challenged in
my trailer
Props: film trailers usually contain props that relate to the genre of the film
or reflects the personality of the evil character, for example ‘Texas
Chainsaw Massacre’ consisted of chainsaws and knives. In our film trailer
the only prop that was shown In relation to the evil character of our film
was her case file consisting of the case details of Rosie the mental patient
and images of the event that happened in the ruins 10 years prior. This
slightly challenges the convention, as we do not present a weapon as a
prop in the trailer, but a case file filled with knowledge in this mysterious
character Rosie.
7. How generic Mis En Scene Was
used, developed or challenged in
my trailer
Setting: Many horror films such as the Blaire witch project, and Freddie vs.
Jason are set in mysterious and challenging setting as well as dark ones.
E chose to follow on from our research ad set our film trailer in a
challenging and mysterious environment such as a forbidden woods. The
woods is a challenging environment as the teens knew nothing about it,
and were unfamiliar with it, however we chose for it to be gloomy instead of
dark as it intensifies events that take place in the woods due to minimal
lighting instead of non at all.
8. How generic Music And Sound Was
used, developed or challenged in my
trailer
Music and sound: Horror film trailers usually consist of slow and eerie
music to begin with in order to set the scene and start on a relaxed yet
suspicious atmosphere. As informed by the research we conducted into
insidious, the conjuring and woman in black We have incorporated this into
our trailer where the teens are sitting in the park, as it adds a sense of
naivety to the trailer and how they do not know what is in store for them. As
the trailer progresses the music tends to get faster as suspense builds and
events begin to unfold. We have also used this technique when our trailer
reaches its peak as it approaches the running scenes, to enhance the
action portrayed in these very scenes. Finally as a horror trailer tends to
reach its end, it slows back down to bring the overall trailer to a mysterious
finish encouraging the audience to go see it in order to know the full story.
We adopted this technique when a glimpse of Rosie is revealed as it is the
climax point as to who the teens are running from. We challenged the
generic conventions of the sound, as at the end we used voice over instead
of an outflowing soundtrack, as we thought this bought our trailer to a more
appropriate end than a soundtrack would. Also the voice over ties in with
how the trailer ends, as the scenes show Rosie indicating for the teens to
come looking for her, and the voice over is saying ‘catch me if you can’.
9. How generic Characters Were
used, developed or challenged in
my trailer
Characters- Movies consisting teenagers always consist of an alpha male who
is the dominant figure within the group and comes to the rescue of others that
are in need especially females, such as the male in the film ‘Friday 13th’. In our
trailer we challenged this convention as the female character ‘Tamara’ has the
dominate role and is the more enticing character who dominates the group and
pushes them to go to the woods as it will be ‘fun’.
Final girl theory carol j clover- This is a theory that is usually common to most
horror films, in which a final female character remains to tell the story of what
happened. However this was challenged with our trailer, as the final girl
becomes the story as it continues, as she is sacrificed by Rosie into the cult.
Evil girl- A common convention to all evil female characters within horror
films is that they are usually someone seeking for their soul to be released/
revenge for example our research into ‘the woman in black’ indicated she
was awaiting for her son to be found in order for her soul to be released
from the house she is haunting. In our trailer Rosie was left behind out of
her friends to continue the legacy of the cult, and once conducts her own
killing she can be released and the one sacrifice she leaves continues the
cult and takes her place
10. How generic Camera And Editing
Were used, developed or
challenged in my trailer
Camera and editing: Our research into the films ‘sinister,’ ‘insidious’ and ‘the
Conjuring’ suggested that Generic conventions in relation to the camera and
editing in horror trailers were fast paced editing (jump cuts), fade ins and fade
outs, many different camera angles but intense use of close ups/extreme close
ups. In our film trailer we included all of these camera and editing techniques,
as they were common in many examples we looked at. We used fast paced
editing techniques, for when we had to speed up the running scenes, in order to
make them look more effective and realistic. A jump cut is used when we are
showing Tyler running through the woods, we used this as it enhances the
impact the shot has due to it being from numerous angles instead of just one
continuous one. We used fade in and fade outs quite a bit for the beginning
scenes, as we felt it helped portray the fact that darkness is enclosing in on the
teens and something is about to happen. Finally we made use of many different
camera angles, such as a medium shot when Tamara is trying to gain signal, a
long shot when Tyler is running but most importantly we used many close ups in
order to enhance the fear experienced by the audience. For example a close up
is used when Alice is stating ‘ I don’t think this is a good idea’ , and the fear
within her facial expression becomes embedded into the audiences mind as it is
so up close.
11. How generic titles Were used,
developed or challenged in my
trailer
Titles: Ttles are used within trailers in order to promote the film, or to direct
the trailer at the audience a bit more and make it feel as if they are part of
the characters experience. For example the titles used in ‘The Woman In
Black’ contained the name of the main actor ‘Daniel Radcliff’ which
encourages fans of his acting to go see the film thus acting as a promoting
agent for the film. However we developed this generic use of titles as we
used them to give our trailer direction, but not to make the trailer seem
more direct to the audience but to carry our storyline as it is highly
completed to be understood through just imagery.
12. How generic themes Were used,
developed or challenged in my
trailer
Themes: Our research into film trailers in general indicated that there was
always some opposition present in a film and this was made clear in the
trailer. For example in ‘The Batman: Dark Knight’ the binary opposition of
Good Vs. Evil is made evident to the audience as it shows the doings of the
two oppositions in contrast to one another. We also included the theme of
binary oppositions and presented the ‘Good’ as the teenagers as they are
innocent people looking for a little fun, and the ‘Evil’ as Rosie as she is
harming them although they have done nothing to her.
This links to Rick Altman semantic/syntactic elements theory as there is
always an indication of a theme that allows us to establish the trailers genre
for certain. For example the semantic element of Fear is portrayed in
‘insidious’ through scenes of the little boy hiding. We also portrayed the
semantic element of fear but through the use of many running scenes,
suggesting the Teenagers are running in fear from something in the woods
but we are not certain of what/who they are running from.
15. Audience Feedback
We then gained audience feedback on which layout out of the two we analysed they
preferred, and they decided upon ‘Empire’. We then went on to use this as a guide
for creating our own Magazine cover
17. Magazine Conventions We Used,
Developed or Challenged
We included a large master head that stretches across the top third of the
magazine. We changed the name of the magazine so it made our production
unique, and because our magazine name is not as recognised as empire we
couldn't place it behind the image so we just laid it over the top instead of
behind. We also used a similar font to that of the Empire magazine, as it is an
appropriate font as well as stylish. We changed the colour we used for the text
however, as Red is the constant theme throughout our production as it is the
colour of fear and terror.
Above our master head we included a strap line just as the empire
magazine does.. However we developed the strapline use by adding a
solid grey background behind it, instead of letting it be free flowing.
This was mainly due to the issue that we couldn't find an appropriate
colour for the text, as any colour we used would blend into the image
and make the text slightly un readable. However I think the grey block
behind the text emphasises the strapline more and makes it stand out,
which is necessary as it is to do with the films premier which is
important information.
Similar to the empire magazine our front covers image is centralised, and
is neither to the left or right. We chose to follow this convention as iron
man is the main character in the film being shown on empire, and Rosie is
the main character in the film we are presenting on our front cover, and
having them in the centre draws more focus on the character being shown
which is an important thing that needs to be done for a main character of a
film especially. We challenged the convention however as our image is in
black and white instead of colour, but this is because our film is horror and
it is common for horror images to be presented to the audience in dark
colours such as black and white.
18. Magazine Conventions We
Used, Developed or Challenged
The name of the film being featured on the empire magazine is placed at the top
of the bottom third of the magazine layout. The name is placed above a lot of
other information and text, and is in big bold text compared to all other text on the
magazine. We placed our film title in the same way, as we also have a
centralised image so placing the name anywhere else did not look right. Also
placing the name at the top of the bottom third makes it noticeable by the reader,
as it is not right in the middle but it is centralised and not hidden. We also
matched the colour of our film name to our master head just as Empire magazine
did, and made our font big and bold.
Similar to empire, we added a strapline under our film name, this strapline
reads the slogan of our film ‘Sometimes dead is better’ as does the empire
magazine reading iron mans slogan ‘new suit, new enemies same attitude.’
we kept our slogan free flowing, as we didn’t want our magazine cover to
look as though everything has been sectioned, however the empire
magazine has a solid grey background behind the slogan. We chose to have
our slogan a different colour from all the other text, because the magazine
was looking too red, and we needed a statement colour to make it look more
interesting. The yellow colour was the most readable of all colours, so we
decided upon that.
The empire magazine incorporated a mini film strip at the bottom of
their magazine, that outlined some of the other films that were
discussed within this issue. We liked this and implemented it onto our
own magazine cover. We kept the layout of the film strip the same,
however we centralised the text instead of having it all to the left as
we felt this looked better alongside the composition of the rest of the
magazine cover. We also added a strapline below the film strip
instead of leaving as blank space, as we felt the lack of colour on our
image would make our magazine look bare if there was nothing
19. Magazine Conventions We Used,
Developed or Challenged
We incorporated a barcode onto our front cover as well,
as all magazines have one despite the genre or type. We
placed our barcode on the right hand side in the bottom
third as empire magazine we did this is because we
followed a lot of the conventions of empire magazine,
and the barcode looked appropriate in the same position
as it is on empires on ours as well.
Finally we included the same sticker placed on empire
magazine reading ‘Ultimate review of 2013’. We included
this as our magazine looked like it had a lack of shaped
and was a bit too composed, so adding the circle brought
a change in the dynamics of the magazine and it made it
look a little less ‘boxy’. We located our sticker on the left
just as empire did, however we placed it in the bottom
third as opposed to the top third. In addition we ensured
our sticker matched the theme of our magazine, so we
made it grey in colour to match thee strapline above the
master head, this differs from empire as their sticker
matches the colour of the master head itself.
23. Layout and Font Options
We then composed our
layout and font ideas, and we
gathered our group opinion
as well as audience
feedback.
24. Improved layout option
We then used the feedback we got to compose our final layout options, and
got audience feedback which resulted in the favourable option being option
25. However…
We felt our
layout that
we had
composed
did not suit
well with the
images we
had, so we
followed the
layout of the
poster for the
film ‘Static
3D’
26. Poster Conventions We Used,
Developed or Challenged
We followed all the conventions of this poster, as we
really liked the way it was composed and felt it
presented horror in a very simplistic and effective
way, and it included all the things we found posters
to include in our research that we conducted. We
located our trailers tag line in the same place as the
‘static’ poser located its slogan. However we made
our slogan bigger and used a wider font as our
slogan had fewer words resulting in it not filling up
as much space as we anticipated. We kept the font
white, as we felt it fit in with the colours of our main
image.
We used a similar image to that of the static
poster, as our image is also of the evil
character within our film. Our image is also
similar to the static poster image as it uses
similar dark colour but is t too deep in
saturation and contrast as we wished for
the setting to be visible. In addition to
further achieve the background visibility,
instead of using a close up shot of the
character we used a long shot so we could
get the background and the saw in the
image. This helps give the audience more
insight into rosies character as there is not
27. Poster Conventions We Used,
Developed or Challenged
The font for the film title on the static poster is a bit longer
and the letters are narrower than in the font that we
chose to use. We chose this font for our poster as it is
the same one we used for our magazine, and we felt it
was a good way to tie in our poster and magazine, as
well as the fact that the other fonts we looked at looked
too childish/ cartoonish to be seriously considered for a
horror trailers poster and our audience did not like them
either. In addition we hose to colour the text red as it is
the colour scheme for all three of our productions, and
it looks good against our black and white image.
Finally at the bottom of our film poster we have our names,
as we explained that our production company is called
TRI and is a abbreviation of our names. Having our
names here represents our distribution company, unlike
on the static 3D poster the names represent actors
from within the film. We changed the layout of our
names and kept them long instead of piling the first
name on top of the last name, as it made our poster
look slightly bare. Also the small print credits we
included were placed to replicate those on the static
