media

1. Evaluation Task 1: In what
ways does your media
products use, develop or
challenge forms and
conventions of real media
products?

2. Introduction
In the following task I will be discussing a range of conventions that I
have researched and whether or not I adhered to them within our
marketing campaign. From this, I will comment and justify my reasons
behind my decisions with our teaser trailer, film poster and magazine
cover. To help, I will talk about the format conventions for each aspect
of our marketing campaign. For example, the conventions for the
duration of teaser trailers. I will then go on to talk about genre
conventions, more specifically horror/thriller genre because that is the
genre of our film idea. Finally, I will discuss institutional conventions
which is what you would expect a media product from a certain type of
organisation to be like. For example, blockbuster and Classical
Hollywood Cinema.

3. Our media products - 'Annie'
Film poster Magazine Cover
https://www.youtube.com
/watch?v=nVeCylAMi44
Teaser Trailer

4. Real media product examples that
we took inspiration from:
https://www.youtube.com
/watch?v=sMEgSLetjHw
'Blair Witch: The Woods'
teaser trailer
'Blair Witch: The
Woods' film poster
'Scream' magazine cover

5. Format conventions: Teaser trailer
Our teaser trailer both follow teaser trailer conventions and challenges some. From my
research I found that the durations of most teaser trailers of all different types of genres are 30
seconds – 90 seconds long. In our teaser trailer we adhered to this convention as it is 1.27
minutes. We did this to make ours look much more realistic and recognisable of a real teaser
trailer. We ensured that we didn’t go over the convention to avoid the audience mistaking it for
a full trailer as these are much longer. In addition to this, if we went too far over 90 seconds,
we could be in danger of revealing too much of the narrative to the audience, which is not
what we want because the aim is to make the audience want to see more so they will watch
the full trailer and then be further intrigued to watch the film when it comes out.
‘Blair Witch: The Woods’
‘Unfriended’
‘Inception’
Our teaser trailer ‘Annie’

6. Format conventions: Teaser
trailer
Many teaser trailers consist of the same
types of editing styles. One of the main
editing style found in many real teaser
trailers is montage editing. Montage editing
is where shots are juxtaposed, often fast
paced to convey information about the
narrative in a short time. This is beneficial
for teaser trailers because they are
relatively short. This is a convention that
our teaser trailer follows. For example,
when the storm starts till the end is
montage editing. We chose to follow this
convention because we felt that this would
make our teaser trailer look like a real
teaser trailer and engage the audience
because of the fast pace. Another reason is
because we thought that this editing style
worked best to convey the hectic part of our
narrative where things start to go wrong.
Our teaser trailer
'Blair Witch: The Woods'

7. Format conventions: Teaser trailer
The use of sound is an element our teaser trailer followed and challenged the conventions
of. One of the conventions of sound in most teaser trailers is the use of non-diegetic
sound in the form of music/soundtrack. This is commonly used in teaser trailers to help
create an atmosphere and make it more dramatic. We followed this convention in our
teaser trailer because we wanted to increase the intensity of it and create a spooky
atmosphere to help convey the genre (horror/thriller) to the audience clearly. With the
soundtrack we are able to create tension and build up, which is commonly found in
horror/thriller teaser trailers.
Part of the soundtrack for our teaser trailer
However, a sound convention that we didn't follow
was the use of voice overs. We chose not to do this
because we felt that it wasn't needed and the creepy
atmosphere would be less effective. We felt that
the other sounds were effective enough as we aimed
for a more simplisitc approach.

8. Format conventions: Teaser trailer
We followed many of the conventions of text/graphics in our teaser
trailer. One of the conventions found in many real teaser trailers is the
use of a company ident. We also followed the conventions of idents in
teaser trailers in ours which for horror/thriller teasers include the
placing it near or at the start and normally being animated. We decided
to adhere to the conventions because we wanted to make our teaser
trailer look more professional and realistic of a real teaser trailer. We
chose to create our own ident, but took inspiration from the ident found
in 'Blair Witch: The Woods' teaser trailer because this is the film we
based ours on so the genre is the same. This helped us create an
ident suitable for our horror/thriller genre so the audience may
recognise the genre before the teaser trailer even begins. From
this, the audience may be able to come to a decision of whether they
are interested or not, based on if they have seen films from the
same distribution/production company.
'Blair Witch: The Woods'
ident found in teaser
trailer: 'LIONSGATE'.
Lasts for 3 seconds.
Our ident 'STORM
PRODUCTIONS' found in
our teaser trailer. Lasts for
3 seconds.

9. Format conventions: Film poster
Many real film posters can be seen to contain the same different elements. Some include, the billing block,
tag line, a main image and film title. The layout conventions is something that our film poster adhered to.
We decided to follow the conventions because we wanted our poster to be recognisable as a film poster to
the audience. We felt that including all these elements would make our poster look like a real film poster. In
further depth, we followed the conventions of billing blocks such as the placement and font style, we
created ours using the 'steel tongs' font found in Adobe Illustrator. The convention is normally that the
billing block is found towards the bottom of the film poster in a specific font. However, we challenged the
order of the credits within this. We decided to do this because we took inspiration from the 'Blair Witch: The
Woods' film poster but we felt it could be a bit outdated, so we edited it based on other horror/thriller billing
blocks to create our own version. The 'Blair Witch: The Woods' poster starts with the '(insert studio
name) presents' and ends with 'written by..', whereas our poster ends with 'music by...'.
'Blair Witch: The Woods' billing block from poster 'Blair Witch: The Woods' poster Our poster
Our billing block from our poster

10. Format Conventions: Film poster
In regards with the title of the film, from my research I have found that most horror/thriller film posters place their title towards
the bottom in either red, black or white font in a more simplistic font style. We have adhered to these conventions, but our film
title is placed slightly more center. We followed the colour convention to help the audience instantly recognise that this film
genre is horror/thriller as these colours are normally associated with this genre because it can symbolise blood and death,
creating a dark atmosphere. We chose to place our film title more centre because our main image isn't as big as the below
examples, so we wanted to really emphasis the title to the audience instead. In regards with the text style, we kept ours simple
to follow the conventions to help the audience recognise the genre. Also, we liked how the text style of our film title Is ironic as
our film is hectic and complex.
Our poster

11. Format conventions: Magazine
cover
In regards with magazine covers, there are a number of elements that are usually found on them. Layout conventions include
a masthead, cover lines, barcode, dateline and main image; these are the magazine's house style which the magazine has to
give it a specific look and layout. Our film poster adhered to all these conventions, but placement of some are challenged.
One of the conventions we followed fully was the masthead. We used 'Scream' magazine to base ours on because from my
research I found this magazine was most suitable for our horror/thriller genre because it is the "world's no.1 horror magazine".
'Scream' magazine follow conventions and placed their masthead at the top, in which we followed also. We did this because
we wanted the audience to recognise our magazine cover as a real issue of 'Scream' magazine.
'Scream' magazine usually has a red or sometimes white masthead in the same style of font that looks like it is dripping in
capital letters, this keeps consistency between each issue. Therefore, we made our masthead red, capital letters and in a font
that we thought best matched the real one. The reasoning behind this was to increase the possibility that the audience would
believe that ours is just another issue of the real 'Scream' magazine.
Our magazine cover

12. Format conventions: Magazine
cover
In addition to 'Scream' magazine's house style in regards to the
masthead, another part of it is the main image. 'Scream' seems to
have a mid-shot main image that is fairly large and central on its front
covers. We adhered to this house style as we used a mid-shot image
of the main character of 'Annie' that took up a large portion of the
magazine cover, placed in the centre. We did so because we wanted
to ensure that our magazine cover reflected 'Scream' magazine so
the audience would think it is a real issue from them. Also, we wanted
to ensure that our main character 'Annie' was clearly identified on the
cover for the audience to able to link this cover back to the poster and
teaser trailer as part of one marketing campaign for the same film, if
they have seen them.
However, to an extent we also challenged this house style. This is
because our main image is much more visible and stands out more
compared to 'Scream' magazine covers. We decided to do this
because we wanted the audience's sole focus to be on the main
character, rather than any other smaller images because this
character plays the key role as she goes missing. In addition to this,
we felt this image was effective enough to convey our genre to the
audience.
Our magazine cover
Real 'Scream' cover

13. Genre conventions
The genre of our film idea is horror/thriller. There are various different conventions
that you would expect to find from a product of that genre. The first convention I will
discuss is the kind of narrative you would expect to find in a product from a
horror/thriller genre. From my previous research I found that in regards to the thriller
side of it, there often is conflict present between the characters or externally of the
group. However, this is an aspect that we didn't include in our film idea because we
wanted to focus on the almost supernatural storm and the girl going missing from
this.
Another aspect of the narrative that is normally found in thrillers and horrors is that
the main character/s is/are put in a frightening situation, or an escape or put in a
dangerous life-threatening mission which almost seems impossible to accomplish
where the characters don't seem to be fully aware of this happening. This is
something we did include in our narrative, which is evident because the main
characters are put in a frightening situation where they are experiencing an almost
supernatural-like storm when they go camping, where one goes missing. We decided
to adhere to this convention because our film idea fits into this, plus it's beneficial as
it reinforces the genre to the audience as this is something that would normally
happen in this genre, meaning that the audience may be more likely to recognise the
genre. Another reason why we followed this is because it helps to create and build
tension throughout our film, which is an important aspect of thriller and horror
films. This convention is found in the film 'Blair Witch: The Woods' where a group of
friends go camping, with no/little no idea of the dangers ahead and someone goes
missing.

14. Genre conventions
There are also conventions of the setting of the film in
each genre. In regards to thrillers, typical settings include
homes, ordinary suburbs and urban cities. Our film is set
mainly in a house and the woods, thus adhering to the
conventions. We did so because we wanted to add a
sense of realism amongst the audience so they can
connect more with the narrative and characters, and
perhaps even sympathise with what the main characters
are faced with. This is an important aspect of thrillers, so
following this enables us to emphasis our genre clearly.
These conventions are also true for horrors, however
places that connotes isolation or being alone is much
more likely a setting in this genre. We have chosen our
main setting to be in the woods where the characters are
isolated and alone. This allows us to incorporate both
conventions of thrillers and horrors together for our hybrid
genre. A real life film example that is both a thriller and
horror is 'Blair Witch: The Woods', which is the film we
took inspiration from. This film is also mainly set in the
woods.
The settings from our teaser trailer
Blair Witch: The Woods' settings from
teaser trailer

15. Genre conventions
In thrillers, typical characters found include a protagonist, a
hero, innocent victims, criminals, kidnappers, a villain and
many more. All the different characters together help to create
and build suspense, such as a hero that works on getting out of
the situation. With these characters come with different
representations. For example, in the film 'Scream' the female is
presented as the victim who is vulnerable in a house, whereas
the villain is played by the male. This could reinforce the
negative stereotype that women are weaker and more
susceptible than men. We followed this convention because
the negative stereotype can be seen in our film idea because it
is the female that goes missing not the male. Perhaps this
means that the female is more vulnerable than the male
characters so the risk of danger and harm is increased for the
female, in our case more vulnerable to go missing. This could
emphasis the idea of 'survival of the fittest'.
In addition, these characters are similar to that found in
horrors. For example, there is a main protagonist that is often
the victim/hero of the film. We followed this convention
because our main protagonist 'Annie' is the main victim of the
film because she is the unfortunate one who goes missing.
Adhering to different aspects of character conventions from
both thrillers and horrors enable us to combine the two to make
a hybrid genre clearly for the audience to recongnise.
Our main character 'Annie'

16. Genre conventions
The conventions of iconography in different genres are important as they are visual elements that help emphasise the genre
clearly to the audience. One significant iconography in thrillers and horrors are knives because they have connotations of
blood, death and pain. This is represented in the iconic knife scene in the thriller film 'Psycho'. Knives are a good mise en
scene to use as they are often linked to questionable deaths and fights, which in turn can help engage the audience and keep
them at the edge of their seat via suspense, which is an important element in thrillers and horrors. We did not follow this
convention because we wanted a film that had more of a supernatural element to it which increases the mystery behind why
Annie goes missing, rather than cold blood.
The choice of location of thrillers and horrors are also examples of iconography. For example, woods are a very common
location for thrillers and horrors and thus are easily recognisably linked with these genres. This is because the woods create a
sense of lost, fear and loneliness, which are common feelings found in thrillers and horrors. Once the sunlight is gone, the
woods become a very dark place, in which low-key lighting is usually found in thrillers and horrors to help set the 'dark' mood.
This is represented in the thriller/horror film 'Blair Witch: The Woods' which is set in the dark of the woods. We decided to follow
this convention because as we didn't adhere to many of the iconography of props, to reinforce our genre we followed this
iconography. This enables us to combine thriller and horror together for our film clearly, as seen also in 'Blair Witch: The
Woods'.
Location iconography in 'Blair Witch: The Woods'
teaser trailer
Location iconography in 'Annie' in our
teaser trailer

17. Institutional conventions
Different organisations will have different types of media products. For example, 'Hammer
Horror Productions' is a subsidiary of 'Exclusive Media'. It is a well-known production company
for the horror film industry, being successful with many horror films such as 'The Woman In
Black', which is there more recent releases. Therefore, you would expect this production
company to have horror media products.

18. Institutional conventions
A blockbuster film has many conventions. For example, you would expect to see a very
well-known actor/actress (a star) in the film. A film example is 'Inception' where the main
character is played by Leonardo DiCaprio, who is a well-known actor that stars in many
films. They will also have a large production budget of at least $100 million as well as
a large marketing campaign budget. In addition to this, another convention is that their
demographic will be very large, aiming to target as many people (customers) as possible.
This ensures that the company create a large profit.

19. Institutional conventions
'Classical Hollywood Cinema', also has
its own conventions. In these films, the
narrative will follow building blocks that
are part and parcel of most
Western narratives such as actors,
events and linear chains of cause and
effects. The narrative will also be clearly
structured with a clear beginning, middle
and an end that normally provides a
resolution. In regards to the
characters, their goals are normally
psychologically motivated rather than
socially motivated.
Classical Hollywood Cinema is known
for their continuity editing, which is highly
important in these films so you would
expect to see this. This type of editing
helps the narrative flow better, drawing
little attention to the editing itself as it is
meant to appear seamless so the
audience focus more on the narrative.