Both the film trailer for The Others and the student film trailer Shortcoming utilize common conventions of the horror genre in their trailers. They both use dark color schemes and ominous music in the trailers. Both trailers also include shots that set the location and time period, establish characters, and show victims in peril. While The Others trailer relies more on supernatural elements, Shortcoming focuses more on psychological thrills and includes clues about the narrative through repeated images and dialogue in the editing. Overall, the two trailers effectively communicate that the films belong to the horror genre through their use of standard genre conventions and tropes.

1. In what ways does your media product use develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products? Comparing screenshots of the film trailer for The Others and our film trailer Shortcoming .

2. TITLE/FONT/TEXT Both of the title cards fit with the conventions of the horror genre. They both use the typical convention colours of a black background title card with white writing. The text on the title card for The Others can be seen as linking to the films narrative with the 'ghostly' effects on the title whereas for the Shortcoming title card we wanted to bring in the red colour element because in the genre it is a big connotation of blood and death, and those two themes are quite apparent within the trailer we have created. Our trailer is more physiological/slasher as The Others in more physiological/supernatural.

3. SETTING & LOCATION Both of the shots I chose are the establishing shots in each trailer. They set up the various locations in which the films are taking place. Most establishing shots in horror trailers have quite an eerie quality too them, as seen in the screencap for The Others , the house -which also established as the films main setting- is shot at a low angle giving off a sense of dominance within the frame also the fog gives off the element of mystery. In the screenshot for our trailer Shortcoming we wanted to give of the sense of ordinary life this man has which the beginning of the trailer. We used typical settings in our trailer to show off this 'ordinary life' e.g a bedroom scene, a outdoor setting. Both of the establishing shots have a gritty/earthy feel about them which are indifferent to trailers for other genres e.g romantic comedies.

4. COSTUMES & PROPS In the screenshot for The Others it shows the audience what type of era the film is set in. The costumes and the household props show the audience that the film is get in the 40s. We decided to set our film in 'modern days' because it would be easier to film. Therefore on of the most typical props within modern horror films in a weapon of some kind, we chose a knife to be the murder weapon (a true iconic weapon of the genre) in our trailer. He is washing the blood off the knife which shows his transformation from and ordinary man to a horror villain. In this frame he is seen as wearing a black jacket and while a jacket is an every day clothing item the colour annotates the ‘evil' and darkness within the character.

5. CAMERAWORK Both trailers use the camera technique of a high angle which focuses on the two actresses in the frame. The high angle makes the characters look more vulnerable and inferior to the settings around them . The scene the screenshot from The Others is taken from is when the supernatural elements start to come into play thus foreshadowing the idea that Grace (Nicole Kidman) won't be able to escape the horror that unfolds over the course of the trailer. The screenshot for Shortcoming the high angle allows the audience to both focus on the photograph in the girls hand as well as the expression on her face as the camera focuses of the photo and onto her face as she turns.

6. EDITING Every trailer within the horror genre have a montage editing towards the end of the trailer. They show a collection of clips taken from all through the film editing quickly so that it's hard for the viewer to get a full glimpse of the scenes whist they're watching the trailer. Both of the sceenshots I have chosen are from the montage from each of the trailers. The scenes both contain their 'victims' being frightened or scared. The montage that we created for Shortcoming focused on low key lighting, thus making the the clips visibility harder for the audience to view the scenes, this also helps create an enigma. Both trailers also use fade in/out of black/white effects throughout the trailers as well. Creating a 'flash' effect as the scenes changed within the montage. These sort of effects are useful because it allows scene transition but all can be used as a way to 'shock' the audience. Flash transitions/editing are a tool to use for horror trailers.

7. STORY/NARRATIVE The narrative for Shortcoming was make apparent through the use of various props in the trailer. For example in the screenshot he's writing 823 over and over again onto a pad - showing his obsession with the number itself. Another scene is where he wakes up at exactly 8:23am and so on, being up the coincidences until he snaps. In The Others trailer the narrative becomes apparent through the use of physical pen-to-paper drawings and the daughter tells Grace what is happening in the house. We also added in voiceovers from 'scene dialogue' to make the storyline more easy to follow. These sections of dialogue can be mainly heard at the beginning of our trailer.

8. GENRE & HOW IT IS SUGGESTED Both shots are typical within the genre. They both show their victims in peril or physical danger. The shot from The Others shows the protagonist screaming, which is a common feature for horror trailers, it shows the audience that she’s scared of the people and environment around her. Those types of shots fit in with the audience pre-conceived list of generic conventions. The shot from Shortcoming shows the protagonist in physical danger of the antagonist behind her, the knife clearly on show, the knife is a very typical murder weapon and shows that the trailer does belong in the horror genre.

9. REPRESENTATION OF CHARACTERS The two sets of main characters in each trailer fit into various stereotypical character brackets. Either to do with age or gender. In our Shortcoming trailer the main antagonist turns into a social threat. This is apparent because he is the person that goes around killing or hurting others that are featured in the trailer. Although normally the films male antagonist is not usually revealed within a horror trailer or film until the end, or due to stereotypical conventions, the final girl ‘unmasks’ the killer. This character is usually a dark haired male. The protagonist is represented as the victim within the piece. This is shown both through the images and dialogue in the trailers montage e.g the finale shot before the title card is that of Jennie (Laura Wild) with facial injury's screaming “What do you want from me?!” showing her weakness.

10. SPEICAL EFFECTS Neither our trailer or the trailer for The Others seemed to have special effects or rely on special effects within their trailers. This is more because special effects are really associated with the genre, unlike action/adventure or fantasy films. However, both trailers did use ‘special effects’ in terms of flashes and various different editing techniques.