Evaluation Question One for my a2 media project.

1. Evaluation 1: How doesyour mediaproduct use,developand challenge formsand conventionsof
real mediaproducts?
Trailer Conventions
Hundredsof filmstrailerisreleasedworldwide everyyear.Yetthe onlythingthatall of these trailers
will have incommonisa handful of trailerconventions.Due tothe oxford dictionary‘Convention’or
‘Conventional,is awayinwhichsomethingisusuallydone,especiallywithinaparticulararea or
activity.Some of these filmtrailerconventionsconsistof:Keymomentswithinthe trailer,thisis
whenan extremelyimportantpiece of informationisgiventothe audience,thisisoften
relationshipsornamesof maincharacters. On-Screentext,thisiswhenthingssuchasthe taglines
and titlesare shownwithinthe trailer.Credits,thisiswhenthe namesof the cast andcrew are
shownonscreen.Thisis normallythe mainactorsand occasionallythe producerandorthe director.
Voice Oversare alsousedinmany trailers,thisiswhenone of the maincharacterswill give an
internal monologexpressingcertainemotionsorsometimesallowingthe audiencetounderstand
whathas happenedineventsrunninguptowhenthe movie isset.
Here I am goingto be analysingthe movie trailerforthe upcomingblockbusterPengyeulan,forthe
development,usage andchallengedconventionsthatare presentwithinthiscertainpiece of media
text.To start withI will be analysingthe use of keymoments.Inthe openingtensecondsof the
trailer,whenthe couple Mattand Daisyfirstmove intotheirnew home itisobviousthatthe young
couple are happyand contentwithwhatishappeningwithinthese moments.Thisisuse of the
populartheorythatthe Equilibriumshouldbe atthe beginningof the story.Thiswasa media
theorist,calledTodorov’s,theory.The use of the equilibrium atthe beginningalsohintstothe
audience thatthere will be alinearnarrative withinthisproduction.The nextexample of akey
momentthatI am goingto use is whenthe character of Daisyrevealsthatshe wantsto keepthe doll
for theirunbornbaby.Thisallowsthe audience tounderstandthatshe ispregnantandthattheyare
excitedaboutthe arrival of theirchild.Finally,the lastexample of akeymomentthatI am goingto
use iswhenthe doll firstmoveslocations.Thisshowsthe audience thatthe doll ispotentially
dangerousandthere issomethingsuspiciousoccurringinthe home. Thisisalsothe firstobvioushint
that the audience will getaboutthe genre of the movie. Sofar, the conventionof keymomentshas
not beendevelopedorchallengedasitisa givenwhenmakingatrailer.
I will be evaluatingthe use of on-screentextnext.Thisconventionisvital whenmakingatrailerasis
allowspotentialaudience membersthe informationof the castand crew.Alsothe tagline withinthis
trailerisalsoa form of on-screentext.‘itall funandgames…until the doll wantstoplay’issplitinto
twohalveswhenitappearsonthe screen.Thiswasintentionaltobuildsuspense.Itstartswith‘itsall
funand game’to lure the audience intoafalse sense of security. However,the secondhalf of the
tagline ‘Until the doll wantstoplay’strikesasense of fearintothe audience.Thisfurthersuggests
some of the behaviourinwhichthe audience shouldexpectfromthe doll.
Anotherformof onscreentextisthe titles.Thisisoftenthe productionandthe productioncompany
names.Inthistrailerthe title of the movie is usedwithinthe trailer.Itisusednearthe endof the
trailer;thisfollowsthe conventionasitistypical for the movie title tofeature atthe endof the
trailer. However, inthe trailerfor,Pengyeulan,the title of the productioncompanyisnotfeatured,
thisisbecause SixStringsisanewlyfoundedproductioncompanyandwe wantedtopresentour

2. trailertothe audience andhave thembe interestedbywhattheycansee inthe trailerratherthan
thembeing‘putoff’watchingthe movie due toSixStringsnotbeingawell knownbrand.
Alsointhe conventionof onscreentextnamesof castandcrew are oftenused.Inthe trailerforthis
movie the cast namesare shown,Lucy Westwood,isanexample.Thisshowsthatwe have usedthis
convention.However,thereare nocrewnamesshown.Insteadyoucan see ‘Fromthe producersand
directorsof..’.Thisisa developmentof the typical conventionasratherthan havingnames,we have
linkedpastproductionswhichwereestablishedlastyearandlinkedthemtothisproduction.This
helpsbringaudience members,whoare aware of these productions,tobe aware of the new
productionbySixStrings.
Voice oversare alsoa typical conventionof trailers.Theseoftenshowsthe inneremotionsandviews
of the maincharacter. Thisconventionisnotusedinthistrailer.Thischallengesthisconvention,
however,we believe thatitallowsthe audience toaskmore questions.Thisiseffective asitallows
for little informationaspossibletobe givenaway,thereforegeneratingmore interestinthe
production.
Music and audio isanothervital conventionusedwhengeneratingamovie trailer.Thisallowsfor
suspense andemotionstobe built.We made ouraudioourselvesandsourcedthemfroma website
called‘Bensound’.Due tothis we have usedthistypical conventionof movie trailers.
Horror Conventions
In our trailerwe have usedthe charactertypesof the damsel andthe non-believer.The damsel is
representedby Daisy.She isportrayedasthe damsel asshe isoftenalone inthe trailerand
therefore isoftenthe focusof the supernatural behaviour.Whenexpressingherconcernstoher
husband,Matt, he doesnotbelieve her.ThisshowsthatMatt isportrayingthe character type of the
non-believer.Itisunknowninthe trailerwhatexactlyispossessingthe doll,howeveritisshownto
be eithera spiritora demon.Thisisa typical conventionusedwithinthe genreof horror,therefore
we have usedthisconventionwithinouttrailer.Anothertypical conventionwithinthe genre of
horror isthe locationsused,itisoftenexpectedtobe eitherwoods,abandonbuildingsor
somewhere whichisisolatedfromthe restof society.Inthe trailerwe can see thatthe home isnot
surroundedbymanyhousesandisisolated,therefore we have usedthisconventionwithinour
trailer.

3. Magazine Conventions
There are manyconventionsof magazinesthatare universallyusedthroughoutall brandsand
additions.Some of these include,amasthead,Buzzwords,the film’stitle,amainimage anda
barcode.
Masthead– Thisis the title of the actual magazine,inthisexample we have used‘Empire’whichis
an extremelypopularmoviemagazineinthe UKand the US. Throughusingthis magazine,we hoped
to gathera wideraudience fromdifferentlocations.
Buzz words – This are thingslike ‘Exclusive’‘Free’and‘Win’.Inourposterwe usedthe buzzwords
‘Exclusive’‘Plus’and‘Win’.Thisshowsthatwe have followedthisconventionasitwill typically
wouldbe used.Ourbuzzwordsare alsoina bolderredfontwhichallowsthemtostandout more to
our consumers.
FilmTitle – The filmtitle isinthe centre of the magazine whichistypical formagazine covers.Itisin
a red ‘glowing;fontwhichiseye catchingandstandsoutagainstthe black andwhite background.
Barcode – We have usedthisconventioninourmagazine cover.Itislocatedinthe bottomlefthand
corner.We feltthatthisis importanttohave on our magazine asit showsthe authenticityof the
mediaproduct.
Main Image – Whengeneratingourmagazine,we feltthatitwas importanttohave a unique main
image that helpsaudiencesdistinguishourproductfromall of the others.To do thiswe challenged
thisconvention,typicallythe mainimage isof areal live personorcharacter. Insteadof doingthis
we decidedthatwe were goingtohave the doll as the mainimage as it allowedustobe unique.

4. Poster Conventions
There are a handful of conventions thatare a mustwhenconstructingamovie poster.Some of these
conventionsare,amainimage,a title anda tagline.
A mainimage - The mainimage usuallyhasa maincharacter, object,place orsymbol witha
meaning,thatisdeeplyinvolvedwiththe plot,therefore forourposterwe decidedtofeature the
doll.The mainimage isan extreme close upof the dollsface.However,due tothe lightshadesof the
image the audience willnotbe able tosee clearlyweatherornotit isa doll ora human.Thisallows
for a certainlevel of suspense tobe builtforouraudience membersandwill leavethem wantedto
knowmore.
Title – we decidedthatthisisvital forthe posterof the film. We placedourfilmtitle inthe bottom
thirdof the posterina boldred easyto readfont.The reasoningforthe redfontisthat red oftenis
associatedwithdangeranddeath.We feltthatthiswouldsymbolisethe dangerthatourcharacter
inthe filmfindthemselvesin.
Tagline – We felt,as thisisoftensomethingthatwill appearingwithinthe movie traileraswell asthe
poster,thatit was vital thatwe includeditintoourposterfor the upcomingblockbusterpengyeulan.
It oftengivesahintat what the filmwill consistof,sotherefore we placedinthe topquarterof our
posterto allowthe audience asmall ‘clue’astowhat the eventwill consistof inourfilm.