The document discusses how the media creator used conventions from real media products like teaser trailers and magazine covers to make their own media work more professional. They analyzed trailers like Valentine's Day to understand conventions like being snappy, not revealing too much of the plot, and keeping the audience interested. The creator challenged some conventions by giving the female character a higher status than typical. They used techniques like camera shots, music, and poster design elements to engage audiences in a way inspired by analyzing professional works.

1. In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms
and conventions of real media products?
• I was able to get my media work near to a professional product by
carrying out research on teaser trailers, magazine covers and
posters that have already been done. This helped me as I was able
to pick up on the good things and bad things I need to consider
when creating my own product. Because I was doing a romantic
comedy, I didn’t have to follow any specific conventions I would
have had to if I done for e.g. a horror movie. Rom-coms are pretty
flexible in the way you can present your ideas to your audience seen
as there easy to understand. This means you can play about and try
different things that would keep the audience focused and
interested. I used real media products such as Valentine’s day teaser
trailer to help me see what conventions they had used in their work,
I understood from looking at this that teaser trailers are usually
snappy and short, they also don’t give away too much of the story
line but the do keep it interesting enough so that the audience want
more.

2. • I learnt a lot of different conventions from looking at teaser trailers such as using text
throughout the clip so that the audience can understand what is happening further, using
text is a useful way of engaging the reader as it makes them concentrate on what is written
on the screen. The fact that the two texts are in different fonts and size makes the audience
aware of what the important thing is, the ‘one’ stands out making the audience realise that
this is a romantic film because they will acknowledge that two people become one when
they fall in love. This would have already set up the context for the trailer which is good as
the audience wouldn’t be confused as it progresses. Moreover, I decided to make the
colour red stand out more than the rest as it symbolize energy, passion and deep love, red
is usually associated with Valentine’s day which most of us know is connected with
romance. This emphasise on the idea of love I am trying to convey to my audience. I
decided to have a plain black background as I wanted my target audience to focus on what
was written rather than concentrating on an image or a clip. This also helps with continuity
as it makes it more smooth and connects the shots together.

3. • I understood from looking at real media products, there always has to be something
memorable in the trailer that would stick in the audiences mind after the trailer has finished.
I chose to use an extreme close up of my main characters teary eye as it represents pain, love
and the fact that love is blind which is the title of my movie. Most of us would know that eyes
are the windows to our soul. Our eyes are probably the only facial feature that shows really,
the emotions and thoughts a person's having. This is good as the audience would be able to
recognize genuinely how she is feeling at the time, this makes them engage with her and
favour her character which is what I want to achieve by the end. Moreover, because I used
her eye as the image for my poster, it helps connect my products.

4. • I challenged the conventions of real media products by making the female role have a higher
status than the female. In most professional products, the men are the ones with the highest
power and role, however for my teaser trailer I wanted to move away from this expectation
and show that women are the important characters. I done this from the start by using mise
en scene, we can see how when the trailer starts the female character is in a house and
wearing what looks like a dress and heels. Her clothing shows us that she is wealthy and
classy as heels represent sexiness and power. Where as we can see the male character
walking along the street with out any shoe wear, this contradiction shows us a clear
difference between their status and undermines the male character because shoes are an
essential part of a guys image. Moreover, we see as the scene progresses that she’s the one
that has the highest power as we see her story unfold and leave his to be untold. We see how
she explains her feelings to her friend making her emotions and her self important in the clip,
I have done this to make the audience connect and engage with her mental state.

5. Establishing shot
Extreme close-up
Long shot in
slow motion
Shot Reverse
shot
While researching professional teaser trailers, I recognized that they all used different camera shots and angles
to make their product more effective, so I decided to use a range of different angles as you can see from the
pictures above. I thought it would be good to have an establishing shot (first picture) as it helps set up the
context of the scene by showing where its set, in this case we can see that it’s set on the streets of dirty
London, which is good as the male character is supposed to be a hobo. Additionally, throughout my teaser
trailer I tried to use different shots and angles to make it fast and exciting for the viewer. This was inspired by
‘The hangover 2’ as there trailer was thrilling because of the amount of different shots they used to stress the
importance of different scenes.
Moreover, I was also able to make it more effective by changing the speed of certain scenes to slow/fast, this
will bring the audiences vision into higher focus as there is a sudden change from normal speed to for e.g. slow
motion. I used a slower pace when we see the male character with another girl to give the audience time to
understand that this is the twist in the movie as well as emphasize emotions connected with the pain that’s to
come.

6. When I analysed different posters I understood that a poster needed specific conventions such
as title, age restriction and tagline to be recognised by the audience. These are important
information that they need to know in order to get familiar with the product, if the poster didn’t
have the title of the movie then they wouldn’t be able to do further research on it to examine
whether its worth watching or not. A poster is probably the first thing most audience would see
as it would be promoted around different areas, this means that the first thing the audience see
has to be a good representation of the movie as well as exciting and eye catching. I have tried to
make mine exciting by using different fonts and bright colours such as red which catch peoples
attention. I have realised that posters use the idea of famous names and big companies to build
up credibility which is why I decided to have ‘A Mark Stevenson movie’ on top of the title, this
emphasises on the importance of the name as it wouldn’t be there if it wasn't famous.
My tagline contradicts with the title which is good because it is supposed to be a rom-com so
the cheesy line would make the audience laugh which is the response I am aiming to achieve by
doing this. Moreover, I thought it was important to use a tagline as it would be a good way of
making the title memorable for my audience.
I picked up on the fact that most rom-coms have a low age restriction which is why I made
mine 12, my teaser trailer doesn’t contain any swearing or violence so even if younger
audience were to watch it I don’t think there would be any problems.

7. I wanted my poster to relate a lot to the title similarly to ‘Jumping the broom’ which is
why I have used her eye and the two characters at the back. The fact that the title is
love is blind emphasises on the use of her eye as they both share the idea of sight. We
can see how the eye is on top of the male character hinting that she is the one that is
being lead astray by his false feelings, this again undermines the male character as he is
put across as the bad person and the audience are made not to like his character.
I chose to stick with the normal conventions of a poster by including; name of
characters, music used and other important information at the bottom, this is known as
the Hollywood credits. This helped me create a sense of comfort with my audience as
they would expect to find those things there. However, this is done in very small writing
just like professional products as there are more important things the audience should
be paying attention to.

8. I decided to make the image darker than
the original picture as I wanted the
audience to understand the pain in her
eyes. The black shadow around the
picture emphasises on the gloominess I
wanted my audience to feel. I wanted
there to be a contradiction of humour
and pain so that it creates a sense of
mystery on what might happen during
the movie, this suspense makes the
audience eager to watch the movie
I thought it was important for my
poster to relate a lot with my
teaser trailer which is why I
decided to screen grab an image
from my teaser trailer to use for
the background of my poster. I
was able to make the quality of
the image better by smoothing
out the images roughness on
Photoshop.

9. From looking at professional products that have
already been done I was able to construct a magazine
that followed all the conventions expected. Magazines
that sell live up to peoples expectations of containing
informing, exciting and illustrative pieces of work.
Which is why I thought it would be appropriate to use
similar styles as professional products like the
magazine cover beside this. I researched on Total Film
and Empire but decided to use Sight & Sound for my
own work because it’s a British monthly film magazine
which relates to my work more than the other two
seen as my chosen location is London. When I
analysed three of my magazine covers, I picked up on
the fact that the magazine cover didn’t have to be
related to the movie and poster, as long as it contained
an actor from the movie it was enough. Which is why I
decided to use the main character from my teaser
trailer for the cover of my magazine, this is similar to
Megan Fox being used for Empire to advertise
Transformers 2.

10. Moreover, her make up and
clothing emphasise the idea
I’ve used the sight and of sexiness and class that has
sound logo to make my been constructed around her
audience aware that this is a character on my other two
film magazine. The fact that products. The bright colours;
it is an international film blue, purple and pink make
magazine which is familiar to her stand out as well as
most British audience makes creating a theme of royalty.
it more appropriate to use.
The tagline used underneath
the masthead promotes the
magazines importance and The main cover line on the
credibility. magazine is the biggest text on
the page, this is the same as
the professional products I has
The main image is of my researched, this has been done
main character from my so that fans who are interested
teaser trailer, once again in the film will have a reason to
we can see here how the buy it. In my case, I am trying
importance of her eyes to advertise my movie ‘LOVE IS
are stressed in this image BLIND’ which is why I decided
as she is wearing glasses. to make it bigger and bolder.
Because glasses are not
something natural, they
are bound to draw the
audiences attention to Barcode – typical convention of a
her eyes. magazine

11. How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary
texts?
• When I was researching professional products I understood that they had similar things that
were produced for one specific movie. I acknowledged that for audience to be easily
interested and familiar with my work I had to make important things such as title and
characters consistent through out. When looking at ‘The Hangover 2’ I recognised that both
for their poster and teaser trailer they had kept the font, characters, location and tagline
identical. We can see below how the location looks pretty similar to the poster as well the
characters being dressed the same way. They have also used the same tag line ‘The Wolf
pack’ to make it something memorable for the audience.
• We can also see how they have stuck to the colour of white for all their fonts
which is good as it is bright and can create a sense of space or add highlights.
• I have followed this idea to produced something familiar for myself

12. • Name of product
 I made sure that the name of my movie appeared on all my three products to keep the
continuity of my campaign going. If all three products had been different, the audience would
have assumed they were separate pieces of work. However the consistency of imagery and
written information throughout makes it strong as the audience are exposed to the same
thing over and over again which eventually makes it memorable and familiar to them.
• Use of same people
 The consistence use of the same
character throughout my work
makes her important and familiar to
the human eye. The fact that they
see her on all three products
stresses her importance and also
helps create a relationship between
the audience and her.

13. The consistent reference of the females eyes creates a selling point that attracts the
audience as they would have made a connection with the uniqueness of the idea behind
it. Moreover, if there's something that stands out, it gives audience something to go off
and think about or talk about with friends, family etc. which is good as my product will
be getting more recognition from more and more people.
In addition, eyes are a good way of engaging with people as they tell a lot of emotion
and help create some sort of feeling in the audience.

14. We can see how the typography has been kept the same for all my
three products. I chose to use the font ‘IMPACT’ because it is bold and
vibrant, this is good as it would make the texts I want to be easily
noticed by my target audience stand out. Moreover, the fact that its
only certain texts like ‘Love’ that have been done using this
font, stresses the importance of them. I decided to do this to
emphasise on the point of ‘love is a big word’ that most audience are
familiar with.
We can see how the font goes soft and small when it moves away
from these important words.

15. I tried to keep the colours the same through
out by sticking to white, red, black and gold.
This doesn’t only relate to love and class but
because I have used a wide range of different
colours, I will be pleasing a wider number of
people. Colours are what attract a human eye
to specific things which is why I have chosen
to use bright colours that stand out against
darker surfaces.

16. What have you learnt from your audience feedback?
• Before I started constructing my main product I had to complete audience research in which I
had to collect information from various individuals. This did not only help me get an idea of
what's good and bad but it also helped me change some of my ideas I had in mind when
initially coming up with the concepts for my work.
• This was a good way of producing the perfect product for my chosen target audience, as I
was able to understand what kind of genre’s, music, clothing style etc. they were interested
in. This meant that I was able to focus on certain things more than others seen as its of my
audiences interest. For e.g. when I carried out my focus group I understood from a lot of my
participants that music was the main thing that caught their attention. This made me think in
depth about the kind of music that was popular among the type of people I was aiming to
attract.
• After taking my focus groups constructive criticism into consideration, I was able to produce
something that pleased most of my target audience. This was clear from the good feedback I
received after showing the same group of people from my focus group and a new group of
people my main task. I decided to separate these groups when carrying out my final research
into audience feedback so that they can’t influence each other in any way.

17. • Initially I had in mind something related to classical diegetic sounds for my teaser trailer but
after my audience research I acknowledged that it was better to use music from the genre of
R&B/Hip-Hop. Which is why I chose Wale – Lotus Flower Bomb, a famous Hip-Hop choice of
track of this age and Frank Ocean’s – Thinking about you which is favoured by many R&B
lovers.
Audience feedback
• Quote from an individual from old Focus Group : “I
think this is so much more better than using classical
music throughout your trailer, as soon as I heard it I
couldn’t help but pay attention because both songs
are one of my favourite tracks at the moment”.
Audience feedback
• Quote from an individual from new Focus Group :
“The use of R&B for your product is very good as I
was able to relate and understand the emotion
behind it. I found the fact that the lyrics went with
what was happening in the scene very good because
It made me pay attention even more. However, it
would have been better if you used one song only as
it would be like a soundtrack to your film”.

18. • My feedback shows me that my audience are pleased with the music I chose for my main
task, when showing them the clip they all seemed to sing along and dance which is the
reaction I was hoping to get. As soon as the music came on at the start, I recognised that
those people who weren't paying much attention were instantly drawn to the screen as it
was something that was familiar to them. This teaches me that familiarity is important when
presenting products to a target audience.
• Moreover, I have also learnt from the new focus group that maybe using only one track
throughout my whole teaser trailer is a good way of keeping the consistency. I realised after
that most of the trailers I analysed had a soundtrack that run from the start to the end. This is
good because the next time the audience hear the song, they will be able to associate it with
the movie.
• This will be something I will keep in mind if I have to do anything similar to this task.
• On the next page I have created questions based on all my three products that I have
presented to a media student so that I can gain perspective on how well my three products
go together and etc.

19. • What relation can you spot between my three products (magazine, poster and teaser
trailer)?
 I thought the constant use of the same character for all three things was a good way of
conveying that’s the central character. This made me aware of the fact that I'm supposed to
be focusing on her which made me want to find out more about her as I saw her over and
over again, the mystery became unbearable. I also picked up on the fact that the colour of her
clothing is the same throughout, she’s wearing blue for everything.
• What improvements do you think I need to make on any of the three products?
 The teaser trailer could’ve been a bit shorter and snappier. I don’t think any improvement
need to be made to the poster, I thought everything I needed to know was clear and the
poster was very creative. However, the magazine doesn’t really relate to the two products, it
would’ve been good if you used an image from the movie to make it more obvious that’s
what your trying to advertise.
• Do you think my products used conventions of real media products well? And from the
three which do you think looks more professional?
 Yes, I was able to understand what each product was without being informed by just looking
at the context, setup and conventions you used. This is good because it means its similar to
real media products. I think the poster looks professional more than the other two because of
the editing and good use of imagery.
• Do you think my three products together would be successful if on sale?
 I think the teaser trailer and poster would do great but you have to put more work into the
magazine.

20. From that I concluded…
• I found that using the same character throughout was good as my audience were able to
make a bond with them, it made them want more in depth info on my main character which
is what I was aiming to achieve. If the audience are kept wanting more then the simplest
things are bound to please their needs.
• Moreover, I found that I should’ve made my magazine similar to my poster and teaser trailer
as most people didn’t think it linked in anyway. Also the quality of my magazine was the
poorest out of all three, which I was disappointed with because I tried to make it similar to
professional products. But the idea of consistency for audience is more important which is
why, next time I will be using very similar images for all my products.
• From further research not included on the questions, I found that the fact I used a female as
the central character was largely favoured by a lot of people including males as they thought
it was different and new. Most said it would’ve been better if you didn’t show her power
being taken away when he cheats on her, this made me think about how effective it would’ve
been if she had the power throughout the clip.
• I will be considering all of these points in the future if asked to produce something similar to
this.

21. How did you use media technologies in the construction and
research, planning and evaluation stages?
• From the start to the end of my construction for my final task, I had to use different types of
media technologies. Some I was already familiar with and some I had never used before but
at the end I ended up learning new skills and developing on my old ones.
Research and planning
When carrying out my research and planning I mostly used paper and the
internet, these two are a good way of gathering information both from
primary and secondary sources. The fact that I could log on to the internet and
find things that have already been uploaded is good because it gives me
quantitate data, where as handing out questionnaires and carrying out focus
groups provides me with qualitative data. To be more specific I have included
pictures of the sites I used to help me with my research and planning, these
are:

22. • By using Google and YouTube I was able to research different trailers and information about what
went in to the making of a trailer so that I had a good idea when constructing my own work.
YouTube was a good way of doing this as I could find any clip I wanted very easily.
• Using programmes such as Word, Excel and Word press was an appropriate method for sorting
and organising my work out. I was able to write and even create pie charts for the things I wanted
by having easy access to these. Word Press helped me present all my work to my teacher, class
mates etc. I learnt how to upload pictures, videos and more which I may find useful when creating
my own blog.
• I also used YouTube convertor when downloading the songs I wanted to use for my teaser trailer.
VIDTOMP3
Word

23. Filming & Post production
• During my filming process I used different kind of equipment's that helped me capture what I
wanted on film and image. Last year we had to film a trailer which meant that I was already
familiar with most of the equipment so I didn’t waste anytime trying to film. When filming my
teaser trailer I had to use a number of different equipment's such as a small hand held canon
camcorder, this was easy to use as well us flexible due to its size. I had to make sure the
camera was on record at the times I needed it to be rather than not because last year we got
it mixed up and ended up not filming half of our work which had a huge effect on our final
piece. Moreover, I also had to shoot scenes more than twice from different angles so that I
could pick and chose when it came to editing.
• In addition, because this was an individual project I had to get people from outside the
college to help me out with things like holding the microphone so that the sound was heard
clear in my clips, this went well as you could hear my characters louder than any background
noise.

24. • To get the image for my poster I used a Mac Computer to screen grab an image from my
teaser trailer as I thought it was very effective and eye catching. To use the screen grab on
Mac’s you would have to press Command-Control-Shift-3 which lets you screen grab a chosen
area of the screen.
• However when taking the picture for my magazine, I used a SONY Cyber Shot camera, this
lets me take pictures and using a USB upload the on to the desktop of the Mac’s ready to
edit. Using Mac’s allowed me to use software's such as Final Cut and Photoshop which aren't
available on any other types of Pc’s.

25. Editing
• When editing my teaser trailer I had to use the software Final Cut which existed only on
Mac’s, this did not take me a while to understand due to having used it last year. Having more
time than last year to edit our work, I was able to play about more with the different tools
and effects I could included to make my work look better and I did. I learnt how to change
speed of certain bits of my clip by reducing and increasing the pace. I knew already from last
year that I had to use In and Out to cut out bits I wanted to drag to the bottom bar so it
didn’t take me long to construct the bits I needed.
• Final cut enabled me to cut out the bits I didn’t want as well us add music and text so that my
work looked similar to a professional product. Underneath are pictures of some of the tools I
used.

26. • When editing my poster and magazine, I had to use Photo Shop CS4, I found this quiet difficult at
first as the last time I used it was when doing GCSE’s and I had forgotten most of my built up skills, I
did however manage to ask my class mates and understand what I needed to do to get a good
finishing. Once I played around with the adjustment and tones of images, all I needed to do was
add text. However, when doing my poster I wanted a black shadow to be present around my image
and I was not able to do that on Photoshop which made me find a different site (Photobucket) to
carry out that effect. I was happy with what I achieved because it looked near enough to a
professional product. You can see below the difference in the original image for my magazine and
the edited version after Photoshop CS4.

27. Further info…
• I over came copyright issues by stating clearly that I do not own any of the music present on
my teaser trailer.