Evaluation Question 1

IN WHAT WAYS DOES YOUR
MEDIA PRODUCT USE,
DEVELOP OR CHALLENGE
FORMS AND CONVENTIONS
OF REAL MEDIA PRODUCTS?

TEASER TRAILER
Duration:
Most commonly, teaser trailers are around 30-90 seconds long. From doing our research,
there are some exceptions where the teaser trailers are longer or shorter than this time, such
as A Girl Like Her, however we based ours on the most typical length, so therefore ours is 1:07
long and fits in with the conventions of a teaser trailer. These are teaser trailers that are Teen
Drama films and also mostly fit in with our narrative. They range from 1:00 to 1:40 long.

TEASER TRAILER
Duration:
These are the teaser trailers for Insidious and Inception which aren’t from the same genre
as a Teen Drama, but still follow the conventions of the duration of a teaser trailer.

TEASER TRAILER
Duration:
This is a typical teaser trailer duration because this gives the audience a brief narrative to
understand what goes on in the film and a brief plot with the main elements highlighted, such
as the characters involved and the genre. However it still does not give away the whole plot of
the film. This in turn creates an enigma for the audience and leaves them wanting to watch
the film as they would want to see what happens.
These are the teaser trailers for Insidious and Inception which aren’t from the same genre
as a Teen Drama, but still follow the conventions of the duration of a teaser trailer.

EDITINGIn teaser trailers, there is a use of continuity,
montages, a change of pace which gets quicker
towards the end of the trailer and certain transitions.
These include quick cuts towards the end of the teaser
trailer. We followed the conventions of this and
applied them to our own trailer for our film
‘Unrevealed.’ In ours, we used cross dissolves to link
our shots together. For example, as the protagonist is
overlapping with the online profile of ‘Alex Lock’, this
reinforces the idea that they are connected.

EDITING
In our teaser trailer we used
continuity editing, and in this
part of our trailer we used
match on action editing of
when Alex requests Jessica to
be ‘his’ friend. Not only does
this link all the shots together,
it is effective because it speeds
up the pace of the trailer,
which therefore raises the
intensity and keeps the
audience engaged. Also, this is
when the main action and
narrative of the film begin.
In teaser trailers, there is a use of continuity,

In our teaser trailer we used
continuity editing, and in this
part of our trailer we used
match on action editing of
when Alex requests Jessica to
be ‘his’ friend. Not only does
this link all the shots together,
it is effective because it speeds
up the pace of the trailer,
which therefore raises the
intensity and keeps the
audience engaged. Also, this is
when the main action and
narrative of the film begin.
In teaser trailers, there is a use of continuity,
EDITING
Also in our teaser trailer we used
a montage, which is a convention
for this type of product. This
establishes a development in
time and allows the audience to
understand a brief narrative,
since a range of shots are used,
without giving the plot away.

EDITING
Here is an example from A Girl Like Her,
where the teaser trailer uses a montage
and this quickens the pace. As this is also
a teen drama this works well as it
intensifies the action and captivates the
audience. Therefore we used a very
similar format in our own teaser trailer. It
also uses similar mis en scene in our
teaser trailer due to the use of online
messages and teenage girl characters in a
college.

EDITING
college.
Our teaser trailer, ‘Unrevealed.’

EDITING
college.
Our teaser trailer, ‘Unrevealed.’
This is also similar to the film Catfish,
which uses a montage of messages to
develop the characters. Our film
narrative is also highly based on this
film, so this works well.

SOUND
In teaser trailers, both diegetic and non-diegetic sound is used to set the mood and genre of the
trailer and add to the tension and action happening. Music keeps the intensity stable throughout to
keep the audiences attention. In our teaser trailer, we used a slow piece of music for the first half of
the trailer to set the dull mood for the audience and establish our genre is a drama. We also used
diegetic sounds of a keyboard typing to match the action going on in the trailer, and it also
establishes the element of online action which is involved in our film. We also used a diegetic sound
of a school bell to set the location of a college, which relates to a teen drama. This is also used in A
Girl Like Her at the start of the trailer. We also believed that using no dialogue in our trailer worked
well as it created more of an enigma and instead we used messages as a form of dialogue to relate to
our narrative theme of social networking. Although most teaser trailers use dialogue to highlight the
most important elements of our film, we challenged this convention as we believed no dialogue
worked well. The same is used in the teaser trailer for inception.

SOUND
In teaser trailers, both diegetic and non-diegetic sound is used to set the mood and genre of the
trailer and add to the tension and action happening. Music keeps the intensity stable throughout to
keep the audiences attention. In our teaser trailer, we used a slow piece of music for the first half of
the trailer to set the dull mood for the audience and establish our genre is a drama. We also used
diegetic sounds of a keyboard typing to match the action going on in the trailer, and it also
establishes the element of online action which is involved in our film. We also used a diegetic sound
of a school bell to set the location of a college, which relates to a teen drama. This is also used in A
Girl Like Her at the start of the trailer. We also believed that using no dialogue in our trailer worked
well as it created more of an enigma and instead we used messages as a form of dialogue to relate to
our narrative theme of social networking. Although most teaser trailers use dialogue to highlight the
most important elements of our film, we challenged this convention as we believed no dialogue
worked well. The same is used in the teaser trailer for inception.
The sound of the school bell begins here
to match with the college environment.
This is an example from A Girl Like Her from when
the bell sounds to match the school environment.

TEXT AND GRAPHICS
Another way we followed the conventions of a teaser trailer using text is that
our title of our film was shown at the very end of the trailer. This is because it
brings together all of the action in the trailer and would stick in the audiences
head as this is the last thing they would see. Frequently used in teaser trailers,
It is very large and bold, which catches the audiences attention
The words ‘coming soon’ or the release date of the film are always shown at the end
of the trailer. This is because it allows the audience to know the film will be released
soon and they can bare this in mind and will hopefully remember the film. We also
included the social media links to Facebook and Twitter of our film since our target
audience of 15-24 year olds are fans of these sites so they can therefore gain more
interaction with the film. We have also kept the font style and colour simple, but bold
and readable, as used in “A Girl Like Her” trailer.
These are the company idents for our film; ‘Shadow Creative’ and ‘Storm
Productions.’ This follows the conventions of a real teaser trailer as they are shown at
the start of the trailer, to allow the audience to know who made the film, and if it is a
well known company, then the audience may be more likely to be intrigued to watch
the film. We made them simple but interesting as our film is an independent film.

TEXT AND GRAPHICS
These are the company idents for our film; ‘Shadow Creative’ and ‘Storm
Productions.’ This follows the conventions of a real teaser trailer as they are shown at
the start of the trailer, to allow the audience to know who made the film, and if it is a
well known company, then the audience may be more likely to be intrigued to watch
the film. We made them simple but interesting as our film is an independent film.
Another way we followed the conventions of a teaser trailer using text is that
our title of our film was shown at the very end of the trailer. This is because it
brings together all of the action in the trailer and would stick in the audiences
head as this is the last thing they would see. Frequently used in teaser trailers,
It is very large and bold, which catches the audiences attention
The words ‘coming soon’ or the release date of the film are always shown at the end
of the trailer. This is because it allows the audience to know the film will be released
soon and they can bare this in mind and will hopefully remember the film. We also
included the social media links to Facebook and Twitter of our film since our target
audience of 15-24 year olds are fans of these sites so they can therefore gain more
interaction with the film. We have also kept the font style and colour simple, but bold
and readable, as used in “A Girl Like Her” trailer.
A Girl Like Her examples.

NARRATIVE INFORMATION
In teaser trailers, the narrative information given is much more limited compared to a full theatrical trailer.
Teaser trailers give the audience a brief plot and establishes the genre and characters involved, whereas
theatrical trailers reinforce these ideas further and the audience get more of a grasp of what the film
involves. Although teaser trailers provide limited information, they are effective since they are more
intense, and will therefore engage the audience more and make them want to watch the film to see what
happens in the narrative.
A convention of a teaser trailer is that it has title screens in between the shots to further the understanding
of the narrative for the audience, as seen in the teaser trailer for ‘Inception.’ However in our own teaser,
we challenged this convention as we believed our trailer gave enough information about the plot for the
audience through the use of online messages as shown below.

We got inspiration from this from
the trailer for ‘Catfish’, which is
what our film is heavily based on.
Although Catfish still uses title
screens to add to the
understanding of the narrative, it
still uses online messages to add
to the plot.

We got inspiration from this from
the trailer for ‘Catfish’, which is
what our film is heavily based on.
Although Catfish still uses title
screens to add to the
understanding of the narrative, it
still uses online messages to add
to the plot.
We from the teaser trailer
‘Cloverfield’ as they do not
use any titles at all to
increase a further
understanding of the
narrative.

Our trailer follows a very similar narrative to the film Catfish so
the trailer for this film was a perfect example to use of how to
get our narrative across.
Like Catfish, both the characters are established through the
use of online Facebook profiles. This follows the film
conventions of establishing characters. Additionally, the name
‘Lock’ connotes secrecy, which is a key element in our film.

Also like Catfish, we have established the narrative by showing the characters
exchanging messages. This connotes there is relationship starting to be built.
The mis en scene of a keyboard and a mobile phone also emphasises this
point. The use of the message ‘I know your secret’ further develops the
narrative as it shows how the protagonist is hiding something. This is part of
our unique selling point as normally the person being manipulated online
(Jessica) is seen as innocent, however this innocence is contradicted by her
secret. This creates an enigma and will intrigue our audience to watch the
film. Camerawork is also used to establish the narrative and the canted shot
of the keyboard connotes the sense of diseqilbirm in the film. Also, it is a
close up of the antagonists hands. This keeps their identity hidden, and their
identity is a crucial part of the narrative.

Much like Catfish, we used close ups and a change in mood to help
establish the narrative. Camerawork also works as a convention
for developing the narrative in a trailer. We used an extreme close
up of Jessica smiling to intensify the shot and portray clearly how
she is feeling. The same is achieved with the intense shot of her
eyes. However the audience are shown a shift in narrative when at
the end of the trailer, Jessica is seen with her head in her hands
with a clear change in mood. This is also the same for Catfish.

Much like Catfish, we used close ups and a change in mood to help
establish the narrative. Camerawork also works as a convention
for developing the narrative in a trailer. We used an extreme close
up of Jessica smiling to intensify the shot and portray clearly how
she is feeling. The same is achieved with the intense shot of her
eyes. However the audience are shown a shift in narrative when at
the end of the trailer, Jessica is seen with her head in her hands
with a clear change in mood. This is also the same for Catfish.
EXAMPLE- CATFISH

POSTER
This is our film poster, and we based
this on the conventions of the film
poster for ‘A Girl Like Her.’ This is
because the film had a similar narrative
and we liked its overall effect it gave to
the audience, so we therefore wanted
to incorporate this into our own.

This is the tagline for our film. The alliteration works well as it sticks in the audiences heads and gives a brief narrative for the film,
which follows the conventions for a film promotional campaign. Like the film poster for ‘A Girl Like Her’, we placed he tagline at the
top of the poster. We used a simple white bold font in capital letters to ensure it stood out and made the poster slightly dramatic.
OUR POSTER- UNREVEALED EXAMPLE- A GIRL LIKE HER POSTER

This is the title of our film and how it is displayed on the film poster, which is based on the film title for ‘A Girl Like Her.’ This follows the
conventions of a poster as the title of a film is large and bold to allow the audience to gain a clear understanding of what the film is called. We
followed the conventions used on ‘A Girl Like Her’ poster by using the red box around black writing. This still allows the title to be read as one
however symbolises a deeper meaning. For example, the ‘Un’, which is white conveys a sense of purity and innocence, and ‘revealed’ in red
symbolises a darker secret identity. This follows conventions of a film title as they all normally have a hidden meaning which works well with the
plot of the film.

This is the title of our film and how it is displayed on the film poster, which is based on the film title for ‘A Girl Like Her.’ This follows the
conventions of a poster as the title of a film is the largest and boldest font on the page to allow the audience to gain a clear understanding of
what the film is called. We followed the conventions used on ‘A Girl Like Her’ poster by using the red box around black writing. This still allows
the title to be read as one however symbolises a deeper meaning. For example, the ‘Un’, which is white conveys a sense of purity and
innocence, and ‘revealed’ in red symbolises a darker secret identity. This follows conventions of a film title as they all normally have a hidden
meaning which works well with the plot of the film.
The information at the bottom follows conventions of a poster since all film posters have this to give information on directors, producers, etc…
It is a white font to match the rest of the poster, however like all film posters it is very small so that it can only be read when up-close. This is
because this information is not crucial to promote the film as it is not the main selling point. We also followed ‘A Girl Like Her’ poster
conventions by including social media information at the bottom of the poster to increase audience interaction for the film, which will lead to
the success of the marketing campaign. We also used the words ‘the all too familiar story, to follow ‘A Girl Like Her’s poster conventions, by
using similar wording. This works well as the events in our film do happen in the real world, meaning our audience can relate to the film well. It
also follows conventions by stating the film is ‘Coming Soon’ to allow the audience to discover the film is out soon.

POSTER CONVENTIONS- MAIN IMAGE

POSTER CONVENTIONS- MAIN IMAGE
Our own film poster follows poster conventions in that the main
images are the largest focus on the poster, it relates to the target
audience, gives an insight into the narrative

MAGAZINE
We based our magazine cover on
the woman’s film magazine
‘Studio’, and we followed this
certain magazines conventions to
ensure it appealed to our target
audience of 15-24 year old
females and grabbed the interest
of Studio readers. We used the
same colours of pink and white
to ensure it matched and the
cover looked balance to highlight
it is from the same company. The
colours also work well as the
protagonists bed and laptop are
pink. These colours also relate
well to the target audience of
females.

We used the same skyline ‘Britain's first women’s film
magazine’ as the one used on the original Studio magazine.
This is effective as the use of the word ‘first’ results in the
magazine being more unique and would therefore attract
more readers, who will then see the promotion of our film.
We used the same pink colour as used on the Studio
magazine to follow its conventions, and it also meant this
could appeal to our target audience of females. We also
used a similar font and made the letters spaced out from
each other, just like the original magazine to ensure its
conventions were followed.
The date is written in small font and this follows the conventions of a magazine cover as
it is not the main focus of the cover. Instead it is simply just a useful part of information.
The buzzword ‘Exclusive’ entices the reader to buy the
magazine as it highlights how it is a special edition and
they may be able to read information which is fresh in
the film world. It Is also slightly larger and a different
colour than the other text to make it stand out more.
An issue name is used on each of the Studio
magazines. We came up with our own one
called ‘The Online Age.’ This works well as it
relates to our film. We also changed the
colour of ‘online’ and made it bigger to
relate to the rest of the magazine and
balance out the colours but it also allows
the word to stand out to the reader. We did
not put ‘the online issue’, as the word
‘issue’ is not used on every cover; they are
all unique and we believed we could take
advantage if this. It also works well because
being online and social media sites is as
popular as ever today.
Just like all film magazine covers, we included
information om films to please the reader
since they will be film enthusiasts.

We used the same skyline ‘Britain's first women’s film
magazine’ as the one used on the original Studio magazine.
This is effective as the use of the word ‘first’ results in the
magazine being more unique and would therefore attract
more readers, who will then see the promotion of our film.
We used the same pink colour as used on the Studio
magazine to follow its conventions, and it also meant this
could appeal to our target audience of females. We also
used a similar font and made the letters spaced out from
each other, just like the original magazine to ensure its
conventions were followed.
The masthead is one of the main focuses on a magazine cover as this establishes their
identity. We ensured the title of ‘Studio’ was the same size and font as the original make
to ensure conventions were followed.
We included the link to Studio’s online website, just like
the magazine we based our own off, to ensure the
reader can gain as much interaction as possible with
the magazine.
The date is written in small font and this follows the conventions of a magazine cover as
it is not the main focus of the cover. Instead it is simply just a useful part of information.
To follow the magazines conventions, we
used the main image of the protagonist as
the largest on the cover as this is the focus
of he issue and it also promotes our film
well. Therefore, it is placed in the centre of
the cover. It also sometimes helps to partly
establish the narrative. In this case, our
narrative involves online elements.The buzzword ‘Exclusive’ entices the reader to buy the
magazine as it highlights how it is a special edition and
they may be able to read information which is fresh in
the film world. It Is also slightly larger and a different
colour than the other text to make it stand out more.
An issue name is used on each of the Studio
magazines. We came up with our own one
called ‘The Online Age.’ This works well as it
relates to our film. We also changed the
colour of ‘online’ and made it bigger to
relate to the rest of the magazine and
balance out the colours but it also allows
the word to stand out to the reader. We did
not put ‘the online issue’, as the word
‘issue’ is not used on every cover; they are
all unique and we believed we could take
advantage if this. It also works well because
being online and social media sites is as
popular as ever today.
We followed conventions by including anchorage text on the magazine to allow the reader what else is inside the particular film issue. We used
a similar white font to the magazine we got inspiration from to ensure we were following their own personal conventions and to ensure the
magazine appealed to their target audience of females, who are target audience were. Additionally, we made the main information bold, just
like the original. We also included the pink dots to add to the effect of the overall appearance of the magazine and it is also similar to the
original Studio magazine. We placed all the anchorage text to one side of he cover to follow conventions, however we placed it on the opposite
side to the one we based ours on to ensure ours was more unique but it also allows more of the main image to be focused on.
Even though on most film magazine covers, the title
is the same style as used in the trailer and poster,
ours is different to ensure we correctly followed the
conventions of Studio magazine. This means it will
be more likely for our cover to appeal to Studio’s
target audience, and therefore they can read about
our film which may influence them to watch it.
Just like all film magazine covers, we included
information om films to please the reader
since they will be film enthusiasts.

TEASER TRAILER
This is the first shot of our teaser
trailer and it is used as an
establishing shot and the audience
can instantly see that it is set in a
college, which the target audience
can easily relate to. We also sped
this shot slightly up and added in a
blurred effect to have the focus on
the protagonist and also represent
her as lonely, which is the basis for
the narrative. The iconography of
he mobile phone also establishes
the teen genre as phones are
stereotypically associated with
teenagers, and therefore our
target audience can relate to this.
This is a mid shot of the
protagonist. Like the shot
previously, it is in a college
setting and the mis en scene
shows her walking though a
crowd of people with the
iconography of the bag to also
represent the college location.
This location is also realistic
which signifies the drama
genre; dramas reflect realism.
The panning shot of the image
of Jessica’s Facebook profile
establishes her character and
allows the audience to begin to
build a relationship with her. It
also hints at the online
narrative and establishes the
teen aspect of a teen drama
since social media sites are
typically associated with this
age category.
The close up of Jessica
typing supports the drama
genre as it intensifies the
shot and makes it more
dramatic. It also further
establishes the online
narrative due to the mis en
scene of a computer.
This is very similar to the
teaser trailer for A Girl
Like Her, which uses an
establishing shot of a
college.
This is similar to this shot used in
the teaser trailer for the film
Cyberbully. Although our shot is a
close up and this is a mid close up,
we believed this was necessary to
intensify the shot to signify the
drama genre.
This is similar to the shot in A Girl Like Her
which represents the character as lonely, a
recurring theme in teen dramas. It is also in
the setting of a high school, which conveys a
sense of realism which our target audience
can easily relate to, and this follows the
conventions for a teen drama.
This is a similar shot to
the one used in the
trailer for Catfish.

The college setting helps establish the
genre of a teen drama. This is helped by
the long shot that allows the audience to
view the characters surroundings. This
point is also helped by the iconography
of the school bag and mis en scene of
teenage characters. Also, in this scene,
we see Jessica being bullied, which is a
key theme in teen dramas, so we are
therefore following this genres
conventions.
This type of scene can also be seen in the
trailer for Cyberbully, a film similar to ours
with a narrative based around social
networking. In this mid shot, we see the main
character walking through college corridors in
a stressed mental state, which teen dramas
often address and enable the audience to
relate to.
This black and white still shot is very
effective and used a lot in teen dramas
to intensify the action in the scene and
allow the audience to see the
characters facial expressions in detail
to set the mood of the film. The mid
eye level shot allows the audience to
see the location of a college corridor
and the iconography of school books,
and the way the character I centralized
in the shot allows the audience to fully
focus on them. Therefore, we are
following conventions of a teen drama.
This is also seen in a bullying scene in the trailer for A
Girl Like Her, which follows the teen drama
conventions. Additionally, our target audience could
relate to this as it has a theme of bullying, which a lot
of teenagers either go through themselves or are
education within it
The low key lighting and close up of the
antagonists hands helps establish the genre
of a teen drama as the shot is intense and
builds suspense. Also, the iconography of a
laptop works well with a teen drama, since
most teenagers own one.
The close up shot of our tagline
allows our film genre to be
established through the words and
also relates to this genre through the
use of social networking sites;
something very popular with
teenagers. Also, the word ‘love’ also
represents the element of the
romance genre in our film.

The title of Unrevealed uses the colours of white, red and black. We
based this on the title of “A Girl Like Her.” The red and black are
dark colours and this signifies the genre of a drama as these types
of films have a darker narrative. The red also has connotations of
love since our film also has a genre of romance. However the red
also has connotations of danger and our film portrays the danger of
being online. The white has connotations of innocence, as people
who are being manipulated online, which we have included in our
film, are normally portrayed as innocent.
TITLE

POSTER
The poster helps to establish teen drama conventions.
The genre of a drama is established through
the serious facial expressions from the
characters. This is also heightened by the low
key lighting. The teen part of teen drama is
also established through the age of the
protagonist, who is a teenager. Additionally,
the use of the bold dark title further
emphasises the drama genre. Further, the
use of the line “the all too familiar story”
represents a teen drama as is highlights the
narrative is realistic and teen dramas use a
lot of realistic situations, what our target
audience can relate to. Additionally, the tag
line which is placed at the top of the poster
relates to teen dramas as most teenagers go
through these type of situations at this age,
therefore following conventions of a teen
drama.

MAGAZINE
Our magazine helps establish
our genre through the use of
the teenager lying on her bed
with the iconography of the
laptop. Additionally, the font
and colours used on the cover
relate to teenagers. The facial
expression of the protagonist
emphasises the film is not light-
hearted and therefore is a
drama genre, as the magazine
cover is not too dramatic to be a
more intense genre such as a
horror. The laptop helps
establish the teen drama genre
as these are typical and realistic
props used in these types of
films.

INSTITUTIONAL CONVENTIONS
Our film follows the conventions of a smaller independent film rather than a
blockbuster film as it features less characters, who aren’t known actors and
it is a realistic film due to the relative narrative.

Evaluation Question 1

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Evaluation Question 1