Question 1 answer

1. QUESTION 1
In what ways does your media product use, develop or
challenge forms and conventions of real media products?
Jamie Pears

2. Conventions I used when making my
horror trailer
■ When approaching my trailer, I knew I wanted to make a classic horror film trailer, so I
decided to add the conventions of a horror movie trailer into my own.The trailer must
be able to create tension throughout, and the editing of the trailer helps achieve this
through jump cuts which gradually speed up through the trailer.The cuts are all to
black, which is used in trailers to create a differentiation between shots.

3. Conventions I used when making my
horror trailer
■ Sound is also used in the trailer to create tension, through a non diegetic heartbeat
that can be heard throughout the latter half of the trailer. A fast heartbeat can often
be used to create tension due to its connection to fear, as when someone is afraid
their heartbeat increases.There are also some shots that are used to set the scene, like
the conventional movie trailer does, such as the shot that shows the tree tops at night
time, which is used to set the film at the forest.

4. Inspirations for my film
■ I have primarily looked at the classic slasher movies of the 1980's and beyond to
inspire me, with the main inspirations being Friday the 13th ,Texas Chainsaw massacre
and a Nightmare on Elm street, in addition to more modern horror movies such asThe
Conjuring 1 and 2 and Get out.

5. Friday theThirteenth
■ Quite a considerable amount of my film has clear inspiration from the iconic film,
in particular the villain, who wears a similar rugged clothing, and wears a mask
while wielding a weapon. I think it is beneficial for the overall effect of the villain if the
mask is never taken off, as this gives a relentless and unnatural impression of him from
the audience.

6. What my movie does that makes it
unique
■ The trailer uses features that make it differ from the conventions of standard horror
movie trailers.This can be seen in my use of different filters, as this is often used to
add a unnatural look to some of the shots, such as the shot of the villain swinging his
chainsaw. I also don’t include much in the form of action, and this is done in order to
preserve some suspense for the audience over what might happen. Plus most of the
action in a horror movie, outside of chases, are often the grisly murders, so to avoid
spoilers it helped having less action.

7. Music
■ The music I chose for my movie trailer is deliberately very reminiscent of the music
used in the film Halloween, which is another classic horror movie, and it also has a
masked villain like my other style models.The music itself is ideal for my trailer as it is
high paced and intense enough that it works really well as the main theme of a horror
movie and is reminiscent of chase scene music used in my style models.

8. Locations
The locations I chose for my film were all appropriate for my trailer and the film’s genre,
including;
■ A cemetery, used due to the cultural fear and unease around them
■ A forest like environment, in order to create a feeling of isolation
■ An alley way, which symbolically represents danger, darkness and uncertainty