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1. EVALUATION QUESTION 1. IN WHAT
WAYS DOES YOUR MEDIA PRODUCT
USE/DEVELOP OR CHALLENGE
FORMSAND CONVENTIONS OF REAL
MEDIA PRODUCTS?

2. Genre Conventions
When we selected our film, we had to decide what the genre was, which was a crime thriller film, this
meant that we had to research this genre and what was included in it as well as developing the
conventions of the genre and challenging them. For mise-en-scene we found that crime thriller films
use dark lighting, the costumes are very stereotypical, the detective is wearing a suit while the killer is
wearing dark clothing to represent the evil in his character. The music and sound was also important
with the genre, we found that crime films use suspenseful and tense music to build up to the action in
the film and excite the audience. Something we challenged was the theme, instead of it being good vs
evil, which is something that is common in crime films, we wanted the detective to seem good at first,
but spiral into being evil and focusing solely on catching the Gripwell Killer. Also, in some crime films
the locations were dark and eerie, as well as there being a stereotypical detective’s office, so we
created a scene ourselves and made an office to film at, we also chose a dark garage where the killer
visited, this would also be where the killer is confronted by the Detective, we felt this was a good idea
as it was a secluded dark area which symbolised the killer’s personality, as he prefers to be isolated
from everyone.

3. Trailer Conventions
In our trailer, we have taken many forms and conventions from real trailers, and then added,
developed and challenged them in order to make our trailer good and similar to successful real media
products. In the next slides you can view the conventions that we have used, developed and
challenged for our trailer.

4. Used: Titles
• When looking at other trailers, we found that a lot of them used titles, these were the
names of the actors/actresses, the logo of the production company and the logo of the
film, we used titles in the same way other trailers did, we introduced the trailer with the
logo of our company, then in the trailer there are titles for the names of the actors and
the logo/title of the film at the end of the trailer. Using titles also helps establish the
brand for the film, for example the title of the film at the end was edited so that the
audience remembers it, it is a blood red colour with a font with lines above/below it, this
font was called top secret regular, at first we used this font without any editing, and it
looked dull and boring as we received feedback on it so we changed it to look more
appealing. We also added fingerprints to replace the letter “o”, this was done as crime
usually involves fingerprints and DNA, linking it to the genre.

5. Used: Music
• Like other trailers, we needed music as if we didn’t, it would not be a good trailer, this
convention is in every trailer we have watched. With crime films, the music tended to
be suspenseful, so we found music that was the same, it started slow but became
faster, creating suspense for the audience. We also received feedback that the music
intruded on the heartbeat at the end of the trailer which could hardly be heard, so we
edited this so it faded out beforehand so the heartbeat was the only audio heard, the
music then returned to being fast paced when the titles appear, which then fades out.

6. Used: Key moments
• Key moments was another convention we noticed when watching trailers, these key
moments are selected to use in the trailer as they are important scenes that give the
audience a general idea of the plot, the moments chosen must be selected carefully as
this is what potential viewers will see, if the key moments are good, they will be
encouraged to watch the film. We believe that we chose the best key moments for our
trailer as it gives the audience an idea of the plot, for example when Andrew Hendry
reviewed our work, he could tell immediately the genre of the film and the general idea
of the plot. An example of a key moment is where the detective and killer are face to
face holding each other aggressively, this should make the audience feel excited for the
trailer, they will want to know what happens next.

7. Challenged: Voiceover
• A convention used in a lot of trailers is a voiceover, this is used to explain the
plot as without it, it may lack and will create confusion for the audience,
instead of doing a voiceover, me and Charlie agreed to using on screen text
to give an idea of the plot to the audience. We challenged the voiceover
convention as we think that the short amount of words will help the audience
remember what is going to happen in the film, as well as not intruding with the
music.

8. Developed: On screen text/Titles
• With a lot of film trailers, the on screen text and titles seemed to be dull or not
edited much, with our trailer however we made sure that the titles stood out
and we changed so that the audience would remember the trailer and would
be encouraged to watch the trailer. In our opinion this made the trailer more
professional and established the brand more than, for example having a plain
font for the title of our film. This was the case at first, however with feedback
we changed this.

9. Magazine Cover Conventions
• Like the trailer, we have researched magazines and picked out the
conventions, we then used, developed and challenged these
conventions so that our product would be similar to real media
products.

10. Used: Masthead
• When looking at magazine front covers, we recognized immediately that
every front cover had a masthead, so this was obviously a requirement for
our front cover, as a lot of front covers we looked at was the empire magazine
masthead, we chose the same and made it red to link to the rest of the
colours on the front cover and for it to symbolize blood and evil which is
involved in the film. Also, the masthead is an eye-catching feature of the front
cover, encouraging people to read the magazine.

11. Used: Buzzwords
• Buzzwords was another convention used commonly on magazine
front covers, these short words are made to encourage the reader to
purchase the magazine, it tells them what is inside and grabs their
attention. An example from our front cover is “massive preview
special”, this shows the reader that there is something huge in the
magazine, enticing them to purchase it.

12. Used: Main image overlap
• Next, another convention that we used that was common in other magazine
front covers was an overlapping main image. We used this as a lot of front
covers did the same, it makes the main character/s stand out more and
makes the magazine look more professional, so we did the same.

13. Developed: Title of film
• Overtime we have developed the title of the film on the poster, which we then
added to the end of our trailer. At first, it was a powder finger font that was
very dull, however with feedback we developed the title and edited it, making
it more unique and establishes the brand more, for example it went from all
white to a blood red with a white outline, we also changed the font from
powder finger to top secret regular, we then changed the letter “o” to
fingerprints as this was related to the crime genre as it involves DNA.

14. Challenged: Layout
• Finally, a convention that we challenged was the layout, we challenged the
layout as we gained a lot of knowledge from other magazines and then
incorporated different parts of their layouts into ours, essentially our layout
was a mix of the layouts we have been researching, I think this was a good
step as we made sure we used the conventions of other magazine front
covers as well as incorporating a lot from other front covers and not just
copying one.

15. Poster Conventions
• We have researched different posters and picked out the conventions
used, we have used, developed and challenged these conventions in
our own poster to make it similar to real media products.

16. Used: Credits
• A convention that was not always used, but used a lot in
posters were credits, these let the audience know who
was involved in what part of the film, for example
“screenplay by Charlie Quirk” lets the audience know that
Charlie created the screenplay. The credits also fill up the
poster more and make it look more professional.

17. Used: Logo
• Another convention other real media posters used was the logos of the
companies involved, as this was common we decided to include it in our
poster, adding the crossroads film logo next to the credits. Another thing we
noticed was that the logo was changed to a different color/style to fit the
poster better, therefore we changed ours from green to white to fit the black
and white background color, which is more appealing to the eye. The logo is
also there to inform the audience of the companies involved in the making of
the product.

18. Used: Film title
• The film title was another convention that was always
used in every poster we analysed, it was a very important
part of the poster, therefore we needed to add it to our
poster, it also establishes the brand and informs the
audience of what the film is called, otherwise they would
be confused as to what the name of the film is, reducing
the chance of them going to see the film.

19. Used: Release date
• The release date was another common convention used
in posters, it is important as it lets the audience know
when the film will be released, therefore this will help
them remember and will encourage them to see the film.
Some posters we analysed did not have a release date,
however we feel that it was important to create excitement
for the audience.

20. Used: Slogan
• A slogan is another convention used in the posters of real
media products, it is a short statement giving the
audience a general idea of the plot, as well as creating
excitement, for example in Crook, it is a detective who
has taken his job personally after his family is murdered
by the killer, this slogan is an indication to that and will
make the audience excited to watch the film.

21. Challenged: Main image
• A convention we challenged was the main image, other posters usually have
the main character standing in the middle, creating a focus on them, however
in our poster we challenged this convention and included the two main
characters, George Foster and The Gripwell Killer, they are shown looking
away from the camera to create a sense of mystery and so that the killers
identity is not revealed to the audience, creating excitement.

22. Developed: Structure of poster
• A convention that we developed was the structure of the
poster, for example, the main image had the two main
characters facing away from the camera to create
mystery, we also had the actor’s names near the top,
whereas in other posters it is usually under the title.