In what ways does the Promotional package of Depth use, develop or challenge forms & conventions of real media products?

2. FOLLOWING AND CHALLENGING CONVENTIONS
OF TEASER TRAILERS, MAGAZINE COVERS AND FILM POSTERS

4. TEASER TRAILER NOT A FULL THEATRICAL TRAILER
We made a teaser trailer, the audience knew this as we followed the conventions of a teaser trailer instead of following
conventions of a full theatrical trailer.
Conventions of a teaser trailer:
• Duration
• Collection of clips
• Release information
• Character introduction
• Genre portrayal
• Show parts from start and end of film.

5. DURATION
We followed the convention of a teaser trailer being between
30-90 seconds.
This is convention as it is evident from Carrie (52 seconds)
and Inception (61 seconds),
and the teaser trailer we made Depth (70 seconds).

6. COLLECTION OF CLIPS
Different angles, shots and clips shown throughout teaser trailer – example: It and The girl on the train

7. RELEASING INFORMATION
Always with a teaser trailer it gives an indication to
when the film is being released: this could be the year,
the month, or just saying it’s coming soon.
Also we followed the convention of the text being on a
Black background in most thriller teaser trailers.

8. INTRODUCED CHARACTERS, GENRE & SETTING
Lets audience see the main
characters and the dark colour
tones create a cold mood and
influence the audiences
view of the narrative and the
thriller genre.
Example The girl on the train

9. SHOWS PARTS OF START & END OF FILM
This helps the audience to understand the narrative more and hooks them in – example: The girl on the train, Kidnap

11. POSTER CONVENTIONS
Conventions of a film poster:
• Title
• Photo of main character
• Tagline
• Screening details
• Billing Block
• Name of director
• Age rating
• Reviews and ratings
We followed and challenged conventions of a film poster,
This helped attract and hook an audience.

12. TITLE
We followed the convention of putting a title on our film poster to allow the audience to know what film is being
Promoted, it also matched the title in the teaser trailer to establish a brand identity.

13. PHOTO OF MAIN CHARACTER
By following the convention
of the photo of the main
character on the poster
allows the audience to have
a sense of what the film is
about.
This is a very common
convention as it is seen on
film posters: Split, The girl
on the train, Twilight and
Insidious.

14. TAGLINE
A tagline draws the audience in, not all film posters include taglines but we followed the
convention to have a tagline so the audience would question the film more and be hooked into
seeing it.
Taglines are included in film posters: Inception, The girl on the train,
Insidious, It and Taken.

15. SCREENING DETAILS
By letting the audience know that film is being released soon hooks them in as they will plan when they are going
to see the film.
There are different screening details that can be added onto a poster, for instances it can be the date, the year or
just coming soon.
We decided to follow the convention of coming soon (convention evident from It) as it helps build suspense, the
audience can also research to when it is being release so they will be more involved in the release of the film.

16. BILLBOARD

18. TITLE OF OTHER FILMS
We choose not to follow the convention of using title of other film on our poster, because we didn’t
want to take the focal point away from the main charter seen on the poster.
Many poster don’t always include title of film, here are some
examples that don’t:
This is an example of a film poster,
Insidious that used other film names
to draw in audiences to watch the film.

19. REVIEWS & RATINGS
Similarly to the name of the director we did not include
reviews and ratings on a film poster, this is because we
didn’t want to miss the focal point of our character on our
poster.
We choose a more simplistic look on our poster as we
thought it was more effective this way.

21. MAGAZINE CONVENTIONS
Conventions of a magazine cover:
• Masthead
• Image
• Buzz word
• Banner
• Barcode
We followed and challenged conventions of a sight and sound
magazine cover, This helped attract and hook an audience.

22. MASTHEAD

23. IMAGE
In the sight and sound magazine the focal image on the front cover either features the actor as themselves,
the main character or the film of the director of the film.
We followed the convention of the actor being themselves, this evident as a convention as it is seen in the sight
and sound magazine Kristen Stewart was featured on.

24. BUZZ WORD
In all sight and sound magazine the buzz word ‘plus’ is placed in a bold text. We continued this
convention so when the audience pick up the front cover of the magazine they can see what else is
going to be featured inside the product.

25. BANNER
Normally the banner of sight and sound magazines are the name of the featured actor or director, however
sometimes they are about a specific articles (for instance “Hollywood before the censors).

26. BARCODE

28. NARRATIVE
We followed the conventions of the plot featuring a kidnap in the teaser trailer.
This is conventional as it is seen in many other films/teaser trailers such as:
Taken, the Kidnap and IT.
Also the narratives include a sense of mystery and betrayal.

29. CHARACTERS
As Depth is a teen thriller we
followed the genre conventions of
including teenage cast and
characters.
Then also followed the
convention of having a male
antagonist threatening the female
protagonist
This conventions seen in many
other teen thrillers such as Taken
and It.

30. SETTING / LOCATION
The iconic settings for a thriller is the wood and in abandoned or unidentified room/ houses.
We followed this convention and also located our teaser trailer on a park bench, this built the tension
and surprised the audience that a girl was suddenly taken and under a tunnel as it continues the
theme of isolation and creates tension.

31. ICONOGRAPHY
Dark colour schemes are very iconic for thriller films as it gives a cold atmosphere. We added dark blue
colour tones to give a chilling effect.
Iconography in thriller teaser trailers also includes building tension throughout to draw the audience in.
The theme of isolation is also present in teaser trailer of thriller films. We continued to show this
convention in the montage editing which was composed of lots of single shot clips where the characters
were the focal point of the clips.

32. STYLE
We followed style conventions in:
Mise en scene:
Camera Work
Sound
Editing

33. STYLE
Mise en scene:
- We costume the protagonist with black
clothing and a mask, We were inspired to
used this convention from the teen thriller
tv show Riverdale.
- We used low key lightning, this is a
conventions used in all thriller films.
Examples: Gone girl, Kidnap, It, The girl on the train.

34. STYLE
Camera Work:
- Close up shots, this makes it more personal for
the audience as they can see the persons
emotion much more clearly
- Over the shoulder shots following the victim, this
adds tension and suspense as the audience as
they get nervous knowing that the victim is in
danger.

35. STYLE
Sound
- Diegetic dialogue, introduces characters and helps audience to understand the
plot, it also allows the audience to connect with the characters as they feel there
emotion.
- Screaming sound effects, adds suspense as the audience become hooked.
- Non diegetic Suspense soundtrack, (tempo gradually increases) This sets the
scary mood and adds tension throughout until the last beat when the title is
shown

36. STYLE
Editing
- Montage editing, builds suspense and shows elements from all parts of the film.
- Continuity editing, allows the audience to understand the narrative and enables the audience to
build a relationship with the characters.
- Match on action, this editing technique used so the audience could zoom into the action and feel
more
involved and
are able to build
a relationship.