Our media products use conventions of real media to seem authentic. For our magazine cover, we used an existing title, included publication details as real magazines do, and featured the film prominently. Our poster includes the film title, an evocative image, critic ratings, and information to generate interest. Our trailer uses logos and ratings screens from Lionsgate, a producer of horror films. We selected suspenseful ambient music found online to set an eerie tone, developing conventions of real trailers. However, we did not strongly challenge conventions, aiming to seem realistic and professional by following real media examples closely.

1. In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products? Kate Cronin, Tanya Baker and Katie Brown

2. Existing Magazine… This is an existing example of a magazine cover. We have looked at Empire magazine in particular as it is a very popular and high rated film magazine. The next slide will show you the magazine cover we created ourselves and how it compares the existing examples we have looked at.

3. Ways in which we used real media products… We used an existing magazine title. Empire is a highly recommended film magazine and we wanted our film to be advertised using this existing magazine. We have included the date and price of the magazine which is a fundamental requirement for every magazine to include. I noticed from looking at existing examples of Empire magazine, that they always include their website under the title, so we have also included this as well to make it look as real as possible. We have included the main article which is advertising our film, all of the existing products I researched had one main article they would show on the front, so we have used this idea and put the title of our film in this main space. We have also included another article along the side, so give readers an idea of what else to expect in the magazine. Main image, we have included an image which involves eye contact as all of the existing magazines I have looked at included eye contact with the reader. This creates a connection with the reader. I noticed from existing examples that they normally have text at the bottom saying things such as ‘Also…’ So we have done this and put extra films that will be mentioned in the magazine at the bottom. We used a barcode which is a very obvious thing for a magazine to have, so we made sure we included one.

4. Existing Poster This is an existing example of a poster advertising a film. We researched The Blair Witch Project when looking at existing trailers as we wanted our own trailer to be in the style of this film. Therefore we have taken ideas from this existing poster and created our own. On the next slide you can see how our own poster uses the conventions of existing movie poster, in particular this one.

5. Title of the film. This is probably the most important part of the poster to advertise the name of the new movie and gain interest. The name should be something that is quite catchy and that people can remember easily. Main image – This is the part of the poster people are going to see instantly and it also the part that usually gives away the genre, I have found in my research of existing products. I think our images shows instantly that it is a horror/thriller as the look on the face is very anxious and scared and there are also tears rolling down the cheek. Ratings from other good movie magazines, including comments and star ratings. Lots of the posters for existing films I researched included this because it makes audiences think that if critics liked it then it must be good, therefore gaining viewers and publicity. Tagline – This is something extra that a lot of movies use on their advertising posters to create hype and it is something that is used to recognise that specific film. Website address- This is used again to link with the tagline. It is a viral website where people can discuss what they think is out there and it can create hype behind the film. Coming Soon – This indicates to the reader that they should look out and keep an eye out for when the film hits the cinemas.

6. For our trailer, we also used elements of existing products such as the Lionsgate logo. We incorporated this into the trailer to make it look like a real movie trailer and make it look professional. We chose Lionsgate in particular because in our research we found this company was behind a lot of the recent horror films such as Saw. The dark colours in the logo also fit with the dark and gloomy look of our horror trailer. Not only did we use the Lionsgate logo we also used this film rating screen that appeared in nearly all the existing trailers we researched. Again, we used this to make our trailer look more professional and realistic. We made sure we used a restricted rating on our film seeing as it is a horror and therefore not suitable for everyone.

7. Music… We used real media products in the production of our trailer. We noticed that looking at existing trailers, music is key in creating a certain tone to the trailer and also introducing the genre to the trailer too. We used www.freesound.org to find most of our music clips which included a spooky ambient noise which was perfect for most of our trailer as it creates suspense. We also found a clip of footsteps on gravel which we thought fitted in really well when you see the camera going up the lock in our trailer. We noticed that when looking at some other existing trailers, they included quite fast, upbeat but also scary music. Whereas we wanted to create more of an eerie feel to our trailer and emphasise the deserted areas shown in our trailer, therefore we went for the music which was a bit slower and a creepy which shows how we have developed conventions of real media products. The clip of the lock we are referring too:

8. Audience Expectations… There are certain things that an audiences expect from a trailer, and in this case I will look at what audiences might expect from a horror trailer. The introduction of characters is a key thing as the audience need to make a connection with who will be watching and following throughout the film. Another thing that is commonly expected in a horror trailer is a deserted area, or a quiet area/space, which would then most commonly be followed by something loud in contrast, or something to make you jump. In a way we have challenged these expectations because we include the deserted area but don’t contrast this by using a loud, jumpy noise straight after. Another thing expected, is the title of the film and the date it is being released. This is so that the audience can recognise the film and have it engrained in their head for future reference.

9. Does our trailer challenge conventions of real media products? None of the media products we have produced really challenge the conventions of existing media products we have studied and researched. We have stuck closely to the conventions of real magazines, trailers and movie posters because we wanted our media products to look realistic and as professional as possible. The only way we could possibly say we have challenged the conventions is by choosing a bright white coloured backdrop for the image used on our magazine cover. The way it challenges the conventions of existing products is because we have tried to make it a horror special and therefore, most existing magazines who might have tried the same would have probably used a darker backdrop. However, I think because our magazine article is about the crew behind the scenes, the brighter backdrop works perfectly well.