1) The document analyzes the film trailer conventions that the author followed in creating their horror film trailer. This includes conventions for narrative structure, sound, camerawork, editing, titles, characters, settings, and iconography. 2) The author ensured the audience would understand it was a film trailer by including production logos, ratings, and release dates. However, they placed the logos later in the trailer to separate the narrative establishment from scary events. 3) While following many conventions like narrative structure, sound, and camera techniques, the author challenged the "Final Girl" trope by having a male lead instead of female to subvert expectations and make the villain seem more threatening.

1. In what ways does your media
product use, develop or
challenge forms and
conventions of real media
products?
By Zakaria Bougouizi 13STE

2. During the early stages of my A2 Advanced portfolio project
and as part of my individual commitment to my group, I
analysed three movie trailers from different genres (Comedy,
Action and Horror) in order to identify the conventions of all
movie trailers. Following this, I conducted more specific trailer
research into our identified genre (Horror) in order to specify
the conventions of all horror trailers. The trailers that I
selected for my general research were American Pie –
Comedy, The Dark Knight Rises – Action and The Women in
Black – Horror. Furthermore the trailers that I chose for my
specific research were Insidious and Paranormal Activity. I
chose these specific trailers because they are very successful
in their own specific genres and are prime representatives of
unique and memorable trailers. These conventions that I have
identified were the basic ‘Rules’ that I followed within the
construction of my trailer in order to make it successful.
Furthermore, with these conventions successfully
implemented into my trailer, the audience will firstly be able to
decode that it is in fact a trailer and secondly it is from within
the paranormal horror genre.

3. I ensured that the audience understood that it was a film trailer through
the use of features such as the Production logos, Green Filming Rating
Image, Age Certificate and the film’s Release date which are
conventions that are typical of all movie trailers. However we did
slightly challenge some of these conventions within our trailer, taking
the production company logos for example, they are usually placed at
the very beginning of the trailer and are the first thing any viewer will
see. However we have placed them around 15-20 seconds into the
trailer after a few shots have been shown at the very beginning. We did
this to create some separation between the establishment of the films
narrative and the establishment of the main characters/ the sequence
of scary events. This would in turn, give the audience some time to
digest the premise of the film before some of the key events from within
the film are shown. Additionally, we chose to apply a 15 certificate to
our film despite the fact that horror films are predominantly rated higher
(18) due to the gore, murder and potential negative effects that it could
have on younger generations. However since our film is a paranormal
horror, it will not contain as much violence and blood therefore it can be
considered suitable for people who are under the age of 18. The aims
of horror films are to frighten, panic and to create a fear of the unknown
within the audience. Therefore, taking this into consideration and
returning to the conventions that I had identified specifically for horror
films, I wanted to implement all of them (Conventions) in order for the
audience to experience what they intended to from our trailer and
expect specific things from our full film.

4. These are the specific horror trailer CONVENTIONS that I have
identified:
• Narrative - (Todorov’s theory of Equilibrium, Three-Act Structure, Semiotics,
Enigma Codes and Final Girl Theory)
• Sound - (Non – Diegetic sound parallel with the editing speed, Instrumental,
Slow paced, Gets louder and Faster towards the end, Diegetic sound tracks
– Creaking floors, Doors opening, Mechanical Toys)
• Camera Work - (Handheld Camera, POV, High angled shot, Close ups,
Extreme Close ups, Slow camera movements – Pans, Tracks)
• Editing – (Short Clips, Jump Cuts, Fade to Blacks, Increases in pace
throughout the trailer)
• Titles – (Colour scheme of grey, white, black and red, placed on a separate
background to the footage, Isolated backgrounds are textured with patterns)
• Characters and Representation – (Hegemonic representation of females –
Final Girl, Youthful characters – Children)
• Setting Location – (Isolated and Abandoned places, Houses, Villages and
Suburban Areas)
• Iconography – (Dark Colours, Chiaroscuro lighting, Props, Knives, Axe and
Supernatural Power)

5. Within our trailer, we do follow many of the conventions that I outlined within the
research stage of my project. Firstly, we did follow the primary convention of
most modern paranormal horror films which is to display a sequence of events
or aspects of a trailer which are inspired by unnatural or supernatural beings.
For example, the name of our main character is ‘Angel Cruz’ which is derived
from the words ‘Angel’ – Supernatural being or spirit found in various religions
and mythologies and ‘Crucifix’ – A principal symbol for many groups of
Christians and can be found within countless real horror productions. Angel is a
suitable name for my character, who I portray as a victim because of the
innocence and purity behind it. Furthermore, our trailer is a modern supernatural
horror, therefore we follow the convention of including demonic or possessed
objects that have an emotional or historic connection to the main character
within the narrative. In our case it is a doll. The doll creates that feeling of
innocence and purity since they can be associated with children and youth. This
details yet another typical horror convention that we follow which is the
exploitation of the vulnerability of parents or people with children as we force
them to imagine their worst fears (Which for most parents is their children being
in danger). Additionally, we do follow Tzvetan Todorov’s theory of Equilibrium
within our trailer as well as the ‘Three-Act structure’, evidenced by our slow
paced and melodramatic beginning, the fast paced, energetic and tense middle
section – Montage of clips (Due to the introduction of the villain protagonist) and
finally our ending which is a collection of titles conjoined together by slow fade
transitions which when combined create the feel that the world of the characters
and the audience has returned to a state of Equilibrium.
Horror Conventions that we Follow

6. Horror Conventions that we Follow
In addition, in terms of camerawork and editing we do mirror the conventions
used by directors within real media products. For example, we do use camera
shots such as POV, high angles and close-ups as well as jump cuts, short
takes and slow fade to blacks which are all used to build tension and suspense
as well as make the audience seem as if they are involved with the films
narrative and characters. On top of this, real media products use these types of
camera shots (Close ups) in order to establish an emotional connection
between the audience and the characters since they will be close enough the
decode the characters feeling through their facial expressions. One particular
example of a real media product which uses all of these specific camera and
editing techniques that I have mentioned and that closely relates to ours in
terms of narrative, is the film Annabelle. Annabelle is a supernatural horror film
which also involves a doll. I did not analyse this trailer specifically but all the
other members of my group did and I was able to review the films poster,
therefore I do still have a very strong understanding of what a horror film, with
a doll playing the role of the villain protagonist would consist of. From this
particular film trailer, me and my group members were able to gather a vital
insight into the shots and possible events that we could place within the Third
act of the three act structure, which is the fast paced montage of clips towards
the end of the trailer that leads up to the big scary finale. Also the trailer
enabled us to consider the different ways that we could represent our villain
protagonist (Doll), therefore we mirrored their specific representation by
portraying the doll as both possessed and bloodcurdling.

7. However we did not follow all of these specific conventions within the
construction of our trailer since we did not want to follow every horror
movie cliché and make our film predictable. For example, we challenged
the Final Girl theory by Carol J Clover. The theory refers to the final
surviving female character that usually confronts the villain protagonist
towards the end of the film. The female character is often given an unisex
name and shares some kind of history or emotional connection with
villain that motivates the villain to cause harm to her. We go against this
convention because we have a typical male teenager playing the role of
our main character and there are no female characters within our
narrative. One of the reasons we could not follow this convention is that
we had no female group members, but the predominant reason why we
chose not to use a female protagonist is to raise the profile of our villain
protagonist and make him seem much more threatening to the audience.
This is because if a teenage boy (Who is stereotypically a dominant and
scary individual) is seen to be frightened of the main character within our
film, we could create the mind-set that the villain must be extremely scary
otherwise the male character would not be scared. This also reverses the
power within the film as males often play the more dominant and
controlling characters, therefore it creates an abnormal and irregular feel
within the audience. Despite this, there are many more typical horror
trailer conventions that we do follow that I have not mentioned, for
example our titles are placed on individual screens with textured and
dark backgrounds, similarly to many real media productions. Here is a
summary list of the conventions we believe that we have followed and
developed on within our production:

8. • Narrative - (Todorov’s theory of Equilibrium and the Three-Act Structure)
• Sound - (Non – Diegetic sound parallel with the editing speed, Slow
paced, Gets louder and Faster towards the end)
• Camera Work - (Handheld Camera, POV, High angled shot, Close ups,
Extreme Close ups and Slow camera movements – Pans, Tracks)
• Editing – (Jump Cuts, Fade to Blacks, Increases in pace throughout the
trailer)
• Titles – (Colour scheme of Grey, White, Black and Red, placed on a
separate background to the footage, Isolated backgrounds are textured
with patterns)
• Setting Location – (Isolated, Abandoned and Suburban House)
• Iconography – (Dark Colours, Chiaroscuro lighting and Supernatural
Powers)

9. To Conclude…
I believe that in my film, I closely followed the codes and conventions of real, established supernatural
horror trailers, as I wanted it to be clear and easy for my audience to understand what type of film I was
trying to create through decoding the filming techniques. Furthermore by mirroring some of the
conventions and techniques used within these real texts, it has made my production that much more
successful and easy to recognise as part of the supernatural horror genre.