1. In what ways does your media product
use, develop or challenge forms and
conventions of real media texts?
2. In each of my media products I have followed the conventions that
are associated with the horror genre. To begin with, I faced the issue of
focusing my horror trailer more on the thriller aspect compared to
horror. When gathering feedback from my magazine, poster and trailer
the common point raised was that the images I used were not scary
enough and the trailer didn’t have enough unnerving scenes to have
the same effect as other successful horror trailers.
In my 9 frame shot analysis I watched the ‘Evil Dead’ so I revisited this
when changing my idea to come to more of a conclusion on the
conventions I need to use. I needed to conform to the genre more in
my images by making them darker and eerier, I did this and the final
outcome had a greater effect.
4. My horror poster conforms to the conventions of a horror as I used dark
shadows to display the psychological image. I used an effect on the image
called ‘Noir’ to create a more distorted image. The previous image I used
for my poster didn’t conform to the horror genre; it looked like it was a
thriller as the image wasn’t creepy. By having the girl in the picture look
directly at the camera this creates a more unnerving effect for the viewer
as they have to look directly in the eyes of a scary character, this also
portrays what is to be expected in the trailer.
I developed the conventions of a horror poster by having more traditional
text used for my film title. I found that using more of an average text made
the attention be drawn to it as it was simple and balanced well with the
background image. Also on researching previous horror trailers such as ‘The
Conjuring’ having traditional writing can look more professional rather than
using a text with too many add -ons and effects.
5. On the other hand for my magazine I had first decided to challenge
the conventions of a horror by having a long shot used for the front
cover image. But after receiving audience feedback it did not have
the effect I had hoped and so I changed the image to a more
conventional one to be aesthetically pleasing to my audience. I
conformed to the conventions of horror film magazines by using dark
colours on the front cover. The colour red is also a conventional colour
for horror genres as it is connotes danger and can be seen as a
warning. I used a black text box around the writing to ensure that it
was visible against the background image, however to improve this I
could have used a lighter image towards the bottom of the cover so
the text boxes were not necessary.
7. Finally, for my horror film trailer I conformed to the conventions of a
horror by having low creeping music. As this music creates a sinister
atmosphere I thought this would have the most successful outcome on
the viewer as they would hopefully feel uncomfortable from the
beginning to the end. On receiving my feedback this was the most
successful consistent part of my trailer. I also conformed to the
conventions by having a jump scare at the end to give an insight to
the viewer of what to expect when watching this film.
