This document provides an analysis of how the media product "Abduction" challenges conventions of real film trailers. Specifically, it uses shaky, low-quality camera work and editing to mimic the style of found footage horror films like "The Blair Witch Project" and "Cloverfield." However, it also breaks conventions by including long shots and focusing more on sound effects than character performances. Additionally, it challenges the "rule of thirds" composition technique to make the shots seem more amateur. The nonlinear editing of the trailer also challenges conventions by not revealing the chronological order of events.

1. Jack Alexander
Evaluation of Advanced Portfolio
Creative Project ‘Abduction’
Q1 - In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge
forms and conventions of real media products?

2.  I have produced a film trailer which is fitted into the horror genre and is specifically a psychological
horror film called 'Abduction'. The trailer uses forms and conventions of other real products and can
be well compared to other horror film trailers when we talk about their style which includes things
like the Mise-en-scene and the cinematography etc. It could also include the editing and the pace of
cuts and also the transitions used. For example, the trailer for the psychological horror film 'The
Blair Witch Project' contains many similarities to my project; the camera is very shaky and appears
to be filmed by an amateur filmmaker out to produce a documentary which is similar to my trailer
because mine features the main characters who is an aspiring director and is also an amateur
filmmaker. The camera in both The Blair Witch Project and my trailer 'Abduction' also appears to be
rather low quality video.
Note the low quality video camera used to create
the effect of becoming more involved with the
film, tied with the allusion that it looks like a
documentary to increase its Psychological effect
on the audience.
Image from
http://tammristhewolf.wordpress.com
Using various conventions

3. Using/Challenging conventions
 Another film trailer which uses conventions to mine could be 'Cloverfield' in which
the camera is also very shaky and is filmed by a person in the actual movie rather
than filming through a person's perspective i.e. their eyes. The editing is also similar
because the pacing of the shots is rather fast, an average of about half a second
between shots which is similar compared to some of my trailer but is other parts I
have also included rather long shots which emphasizes the fact that it was filmed by
an amateur. Another reason that my product could be different from other trailers
from this genre would be to study a trailer such as The Woman in Black which is also
a psychological horror film and the trailer differs from mine for many reasons. Firstly
the cinematography is much more diverse, containing shots ranging from aerial
panning shots to slow zooms which my product lacks, my product also misses out on
a diverse range of locations which is around 3 max and The Woman in Black about 6
or 7, the performance of the characters also plays a big part in the trailer whereas in
mine it focuses on the use of sound effects and video effects used iMovie, the main
reasons for this because of my low budget.

4. Challenging conventions
The ‘Rule of thirds’
 This rule is where you use a 3x3 grid on a video camera and place the subject on either
the right or left side of the camera lining up against that specific grid line in order to
create a more professional shot. Almost every successful film director and TV producers
use this rule to make sure their cinematography looks professional. This is better than
having the subject in the middle and with pointless backgrounds either side of the subject
which make no sense. This was one of the key challenges to major film trailer
conventions that I deliberately implemented so that the effect of the amateur camera
shots, angles and movements were more befitting to the character's that are involved in
the film. These shots also play a key role in making sure that the audience feel more
involved in the action rather than being spectators.
Most cameras have a feature that allows
the film maker to use a grid as a template
to make sure they are implementing the
rule of thirds technique.
Image from
http://slideguru.com/

5. Using narrative conventions
 I have also looked at another trailer for a film called 'The Ring' which is in the same
genre and sub-genre as my product which. I think that this film helps my product
challenge conventions because of its narrative i.e. what happens in the story. For example
the trailer shown for the Ring has been edited to be linear, which means it, is in
chronological order of the events that happened. Whereas my trailer is edited in much
more mixed way i.e. the sequences used are not in any order. I have done this because it
makes sure that the audience doesn't get too many hints into what occurs in the story and
only gets little glimpses. This among other reasons is why I have challenged the
conventions of film trailers such as The Ring.