evaluation question

1. In what ways doesyour media product use,developor challenge formsand conventionsofreal
mediaproduct?
Duringthe researchstage for the trailerI learnedthatsome of the conventionsof filmtrailerswere
institutional logos,builduptoclimax,special effectsandspecificnarrative structure e.g.equilibrium
to disequilibrium.Ialsogainedthe knowledge thatinstitutional logosappearatthe start of the
trailerandlast forup to 3-4 secondseach.Inmajorityof the trailersthere were abouttwoto three
institutional logos.InadditionwhenwatchingvarioustrailersIsaw certaininstitutional logos
appearingmore frequentlybutwithslightlydifferentdesignstosetupthe mood andatmosphere
for the trailer.One conventionof atrailerisinstitutional logo,Ihave used3 institutional logosinmy
trailer.
As well asthisI discoveredthatsome of the archetypal sci-fifilmcharactertypesare aliens,robots,
artificial intelligence etc.Althoughsuchcharactersare not presentinmysci-fi trailer,instead
togetherwithmygroupdecidedthatwithnew emergingmarketforteensci-fifilms,Iparticularly
wantedtochallenge the stereotype of havingamale protagonistbyhavingastrong female lead
such as Sophie.Forexampleinmanysci-fi filmslikethe Martian,Transcendence,Dawnof the planet
of apes,the protagonistwhosavesthe worldisindefinitelyamale.
I alsolookedintothe populariconographyof the sci-fi genre andfoundafrequentreoccurrence of
high-techgadgetsandspecial effects.Ihave developedthe populariconographyof sci-fifilmswith
the use of the time travellingnecklace the protagonistuses.Furthermore Ihave usedediting
techniquessuchasfastforward,time lapse asspecial effectstosuggestthe time controllingability
of ‘Sophie’.Ialsofoundthatthe narrative about‘overcomingobstacles’wasthe mostpopular
narrative forsci-fi films.ThereforeIusedthisresearchinmyplanningtoportraya narrative inthe
trailertoshowthe protagonist‘Sophie’tobe overcomingobstaclesof herown.Inaddition,I
developedthisnarrative furtherwiththe ‘time travelling’focustoexcite the audience,especiallythe
target audience.
Some of the genericthemesIhave implementedinthe trailer,magazinecoverandfilmposteristhe
theme of time travel.Inthe trailer,thiswasdone usingeditingtoolssuchasfast forward.Inthe
magazine coverthiswassuggestedthroughcoverlinesandinthe filmposterthe theme wasshown
usingthe kaleidoscopeeffectonthe clockto show time distortion.Anothertheme thatis
implementedinthe traileris‘revenge’.Inthe narrative the protagonistisgoingagainsther
Grandmotherswishesandgoingbackinthe past to avenge hermother’sdeath.Implementingthese
themeshasledtothe trailerbeingmore alike the sci-fi genre.
Some of the formsandconventionsof filmposterare filmtitle,mainimage,tagline,billingblocketc.
I have includedall these elementsinmyfilmpostertoallow mypostertolookprofessional.Formy
mainimage,Iusedan image of the mainprotagonist,because duringthe researchstagesInoticed
that majority of filmposterincludedamainimage of the mainactor. I also addedspecial effectsto
my posterbyusingthe kaleidoscopetool inPhotoshopandusingthe screeneffecttooverlapthe
twoimagesand bringto life the ideaof time travellingusingthe tag line.
The filmtrailerhaschallengedformsandconventionsof real mediatextproduct.Forexample unlike
the archetypal sci-fi films,myfilmtrailerdoesn’tincludeverystockcharactertypesof the genre such
as Aliens,robotsorandroid.Furthermore duringmyresearchInoticedthatmany sci-fi filmshad
strongmale leads.We wantedtogo againstthistrend andas a resultmade ourprotagonista strong
female teen.Ibecame more confidentinthisrevolt,whenduringthe researchIfoundthatmajority

2. of ourtarget marketlike similargenre filmssuchasthe ‘HungerGames’,‘Maze runner’and
‘Insurgent’whichislike adventuresci-fifilmstargetedatthe youngerteenmarket. Inadditionour
filmgenre isa sci-fi hybrid,thisgenre hasbeendeveloped inourtrailertoallow the contenttobe
more relatable tothe targetaudience andcurrenttime period.
Howeverasci-fi filmconventionthatIdidnot conformto wasthe use of CGI and special effects.This
isdue to the fact that there wasa limitationonthe technologytoachievedhighqualityandgreat
SFX.AlthoughIdidhave access to the greenscreen,itwouldhave beenverydifficulttoachieve a
professionaloveralllookwithoutthe trailerlosingitsmoodandatmosphere.Thereforethroughthe
processof lookingatthe advantagesanddisadvantagesof usingthistechnology,Iandmy group
came to the conclusiontonotemploythisconvention.Howeverinmytrailerthere are otherforms
of special effectssuchasreverse,instantreplay,fastword, slow motionwhichhave beenusedto
depictthe time travellingabilityof the protagonist.
Some of the formsandconventionsof magazine coversare masthead,coverlines,barcode,issue
date,price,mainimage etc.I have usedthese conventionsinthe constructionof mymagazine
cover.For the magazine coverI have mostlyfollowedthe genericformsof magazine coverstoallow
my coverto looklike aprofessional magazine cover.Generallythe mainimage of the magazine
coveris the mainactor of the filmthatis beingpromoted.Forexample of the Total filmMartian
magazine cover,Matt Damonwas the mainimage.I have gainedknowledge fromthesepopular
magazine coversandusedan image of the protagonistas mymainimage.
The mastheadusuallyfillsthe widthof the covere.g.Empire,Total filmandVogue.Howeverthere
are othermagazine coverse.g.Sci-fi magazinewhichhasitsmastheadonthe leftcorner.Other
formsand conventionsthatIconformedtoare price,issue date andbarcode.Applyingthisto the
magazine covermade the overall final productlookmore professional.
I have alsoincorporatedquite afewcoverlines,Ihave furtherdevelopedthisconventionbymaking
the cover linesmore attractive tothe targetaudience.ForexampleIhave includedcoverlinessuch
as “JenniferLawrence…the new generationof strongsci-fi women”Thiscoverline will attractthe
target audience whichare teenagersandmostlyappeal tofemalesbutalsoasignificantamountof
males.Inadditionthe coverline addressesatopicwhichfemale audienceswouldbe interestedto
purchase the magazine andread.Furthermore Ihave imitatedthe conventionof usinghyperbolic
wordsin mymagazine coverto attract the readersthe eyes.Forexample Ihave usedalluringwords
such as “Exclusive,Secret,Newest,Special”etc.andfontformattingtoolssuchas bold,underline
and italicstodraw more attentiontothe coverlinesandincrease the likelychance of the viewers
beinginterestedinbuyingit. Aswell asthisIhave addeda skyline above the magazine coverwith
namesof famoussci-fi filmssuchas“DivergentandHungerGames”whichtargetthe similar
audience thatmyfilmtraileristargetingtherefore itwouldbe beneficial andeffective forthe
magazine cover.
Anotherformandconventionof a magazine coverthatI adaptedwasthe slogan,the sloganIhave is
“The world’smostinterestingmagazine”.Similartoothermagazine frontcovers,thissloganisnear
the mastheadandtherefore acontinuumtothe title “Supernova”.A more recentformand
conventionthatIhave addedto my frontcoveris the website address“supernovaonline.com”,by
includingthisunderthe masthead,itgivesthe magazine seemlikealegitimatefrontcover.
The main coverline isone of the largesttexton the frontcoverafterthe masthead.Itisimportant
because itrelatestothe meaningandreasonbehindthe mainimage.Iusedbigfontsize andbold

3. formattingwhichbrightcolourtoattract the viewer’seyeandincludedhyperbolicwords.
Underneaththe
The main coverline of mymagazine coverwasa ‘Special feature’about‘anexclusive talkwiththe
star of r3’ and I put the page numberunderneathtohelpthe readersreferthe page,similartohow
mostmagazine coverswere laidout.The use of words suchas ‘special’and‘exclusive’captivatethe
readerand make theminterestedinthe storyinside.
Overall,Ihave alsomade sure that the mainimage of the protagonistof R3 is inthe centre and not
distractedbythe writing.Atfirstitwas difficulttogetthe rightbalance,asI didn’twantthe writing
to overpowerthe mainimage andvice versa,howeveraftertrial anderrorin the editingprocessI
was able toachieve the final productwithconstructive criticismfrompeers,targetaudience and
teachers.Ialso have a colourpalette forthe frontcover,the coloursI usedare yellow,white and
blue.Before comingtothe conclusiontouse these coloursIhadexperimentedwithothercolour
schemessuchas ‘green,black,white’and‘blue,white,grey’howeverthe mostpositive feedback
was givenwiththe ‘blue,yellow andwhite’colourpalette.