The document analyzes how the author's media product complies with conventions of real teen drama media. It discusses 9 key scenes from the teaser trailer that demonstrate adherence to conventions. These include opening with the institutional logo high in the sky, using titles throughout for information rather than voiceover, featuring typical teen drama settings like schools, incorporating close-ups to add mystery, using mise-en-scene to imply the genre through items like pink bedrooms, showing an escalation of drama and tension, including mobile phones to continue building suspense, and ending with the film title to leave a lasting impression. The analysis compares these elements to conventions found in other popular teen drama trailers and media.

1. How does my media product
use, develop or challenge forms
and conventions of real media
products?
By Ashleigh Precious

2. Format Conventions
Teaser Trailer
Our teaser trailer is one minute and 50 seconds long, this complies with the traditional maximum trailer length which is
generally two minutes and under. Most that you can find are under two minutes and we wanted to stay within this time frame in order
to define it as a teaser trailer. Examples of other teaser trailers we looked at within the teen drama genre could include ‘Perks of Being
a Wallflower’, ‘Mean Girls’, ‘Wild Child’, and ’The Duff’.
The editing style we used includes quick cuts, which helps to save as much time as
possible to keep the trailer short, as well as adding an element of mystery and
excitement for the audience as everything is all happening at once. I also think
that the use of quick cuts helps to capture the tense emotions of the
characters better.
The sound we added into our teaser trailer complies with the
conventions because it is upbeat which usually matches our chosen
genre, this makes it easier to establish which genre it is and helps set
the desired tone of the trailer. We added in another sound track to
help match the visuals on screen, as well as helping us to make the
sound suit our trailer as much as possible in terms of tone and atmosphere.
the first is quite intense and slightly darker sounding to help demonstrate
these elements of our genre, however the second is lighter and more upbeat which
helps establish the genre of the trailer. Another layer of sound we added was sound
effects which matched the actions, such as footsteps, this helps create a more
realistic trailer. Multiple layers of different sound is a key convention and makes the
trailer more engaging to the audience as well as making it make sense and look realistic.
We also used text in our trailer in order to summarise the plot so that the audience fully understands what was going on, we felt that
this was more fitting for the genre than a narrative and we were inspired by the Perks of Being a Wallflower trailer as their was really
helpful in demonstrating the plot and setting the tone for the movie.

3. Format Conventions
Poster
The layout conventions we used in our poster matched the typical poster conventions such as images of
the main characters central and large in the middle, followed by a large and bold title of the film, and a
slightly smaller slogan matching the font and colours. We also maintained a brand identity throughout,
keeping the same colour scheme of red, grey and white. This would help to make our poster memorable
and recognised in other marketing platforms just by seeing the same colours, characters and fonts.
The placement of the poster was designed so that the slogan is at the top because we noticed it was
typical of a few other film posters, we thought that it acts as almost an introduction to the poster giving a
little hint towards the plot and summarising the gist of the film. We placed the billing block at the bottom
of the poster as in most that is where it is conventionally placed, with a release date beneath it.
I would say that our poster is fairly simple with only the necessary information with advertisement
purposes. We layered three images that we had previouslytaken together, placing the main antagonist at
the front, with the two protagonists faded into the background. This establishes the three main characters
are looks professional as we spent a lot of time carefully cutting out and editing each image.
We chose the font because it looks slightly sinister which is an element of our
plot, it is also easily recogniseable and goes well with the red text colour
scheme. We chose the colour red because it reflects the dangerous side of
our plot, which accompanies the font well. The white colour is meant to
reflect the innocenceof the protagonists, especially in contrast to the dark
greys and black shadows in the lower half of the poster, this represents the
underlying mystery and danger of the trailer.

4. Institutional Conventions
Magazine Cover
The institutional conventions of a typical film magazine cover (as you can see from the examples) include:
 A big, bold, coloured masthead
 Taglines
 Film title
 Large image of main character(s)
 Surrounding quotes from celebrities found within the magazine
 Slogan for the advertised film
 Bright bold background
 Colour scheme fitting the film genre
 Advertisement for extra free gifts inside (posters usually)

5. Institutional Conventions
Trailer
Conventions of a typical blockbuster trailer would include: (please see the link for an example of a conventional teen drama
trailer)
 Mood music soundtrack which changes in pace and tone as it reaches different emotional scenes in the trailer
 Main characters featured mostly throughout
 Titles inserted at the beginning and end, sometimes in between to give the audience more information, always matching the
brand identity from film posters and other advertisements
 Narrator voiceover to give the audience further information
 Institutional information
 The best bits extracted from the film to give the best possible impression of the film
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n5rh7O4IDc0
Company information would usually be presented in very quick, titles usually at the end of the trailer in small fonts

6. Institutional Conventions
Poster
Conventions found in posters such as the examples I have provided:
 Billing block (usually found at the bottom)
 Large title
 Background image indicating the type of film it is
 Main characters images usually central and large
 Names of the stars in the film listed
 Institutional information about the company presented beneath billing block
 Release date
 Film slogan

7. Genre Conventions
(Teen Drama)
Location:
 College/School environment
 Bedrooms of main characters
 House parties
 Clubs
 Local ‘hangout’ spot, eg: diner, park, shopping centre
Narrative themes:
 Usually revolves around a relationship
 Friendship issues
 School difficulties (popularity hierarchies)
 Secrets and scandals in teenage lives such as cheating
 Bullying
 Societal pressure
Character:
 Teenage boys/girl
 Antagonist is either a bully, or popular stereotypical jock/queen bee
 Protagonist is usually a ‘reject’, loner or outcast
 Usually an attractive cast
Iconography:
o Usually a doodled notebook/sketches (as seen in Mean Girls)
o School cafeteria setting
o Mobile phones
o Social media
o High heels if it is a girly teen drama
o House party red alcohol cups
Style:
o Camera work usually includes a lot of close up’s to show facial expression, and long
shots to show their styling as a character, eg: designer/glamourous clothes for popular
girl character.
o Costume usually depends on the sub-genres, such as pink, short skirts and girly outfits
if it is a chick-flick
o Mise en Scene: The lighting is often high-key if the tone is upbeat, and low-key if it is a
more sinister film, the colours within the scenes also generally are lighter if the tone of
the film is positive, and darker if the film is more serious and dark
o Editing: There is lots of montage editing in teen dramas, as well as fast paced editing
to create humour or excitement within the audience
o Sound is usually upbeat if the tone of the film is positive and overall concludes to a
happy ending, however it is more ominous and intense if the overall theme of the film
is darker and more of a sinister teen drama.

8. How did our trailer comply with conventions?
Here are nine images of what our group felt to be from the most key scenes in the trailer:

9. How did our trailer comply with conventions?
 1: The first image to include in the most important shots of the trailer was the title at the
beginning featuring the institutional logo. This is typical of teaser trailers as they usually begin
with the same.
 Another thing to note is the fact that the image we included was of the surface of the earth view
from space, with the company name going boldly across the screen. These kind of logo’s are
typical of film institution logos. I have included examples below. As you can see, they are usually
based high up in the sky, usually to suggest their dominance over the film industry if it is a big
company like Universal.
Ours

10. How did our trailer comply with conventions?
 The second important image from our teaser trailer (I included a photo of it in the top corner) is
an image of the titles we added in throughout. These are important as we decided not to have a
voiceover as we thought titles were more appropriate for a teen drama.
 The titles can help to establish a brand identity if the right colours and fonts are used and
therefore we though that it was the best option for our trailer. We got the inspiration mainly from
the ‘Perks of Being a Wallflower’ which showed us the alternative to using a voice over, I included
images of this below. As you can see they maintained the brand identity of the film.

11. How did our trailer comply with conventions?
 The third image (I included a photo at the top) was also important in complying with genre
conventions due to the fact that it is clearly set in a school/college corridor. This is one of the
most typical settings for a teen drama due to the fact it is one of the places where all the drama
happens in most teenage lives.
 I have included examples below which show other teen drama films set in school backgrounds.

12. How does our trailer comply with
conventions?
 Another important image we included to establish the genre was the extra close up shot of the
antagonists hand fixing her stalker photos of the protagonists to the ‘stalker board’ The long red
nail fits the brand identity of using the colour red on the antagonist to represent danger, as well
as adds a girly, feminine touch to the shot which would appeal t the typical teenage girl target
audience. The image from our trailer is above.
 The extra close up helps to create mystery as it does not give away much information as to what
is going on and this is typical in teen dramas when trying to add mystery to a scene. I’ve
included an example of a close up in a teen drama below to represent this.

13. How does our trailer comply with
conventions?
 The image I included above from our teaser trailer shows how we used mise-en-scene and the
setting to imply its teen drama genre.
 The setting is a teenage girls bedroom, again one of the main places a typical teenage girl hangs
out with her friends.
 The costumes of the girls all feature pink, as well as the pinky tint to the room and the blonde
hair of the girls all point to the typical teenage girl stereotype. This is included in other teen
dramas in order to set the genre of the films, I have included examples below.

14. How does our trailer comply with
conventions?
 This image is very important when suggesting the narrative of our trailer because it reveals the
true nature of the antagonist and how extreme the stalking has become. It gives the audience
more information from the previous extra close up scene of the photo being added to the board.
 This is a key moment in the trailer as shows the drama and the tension is building up to reach its
peak. Trailers usually feature dramatic build-ups to the moment when everything reaches its most
tense and mysterious, before ending leaving the audience wanting more.
 I have included an example below of a build up to drama in other teaser trailers using medium
shots.

15. How does our trailer comply with
conventions?
 Another key image from our teaser trailer is the text message ‘I know your secret’ (image above’.
Mobile phones are traditional symbols of a teen drama and text message scenes often appear in
the form of a point-of-view shot in order to put the audience in the characters shoes and add
tension to the scene. It also helps to climax the drama and tension.

16. How does our trailer comply with
conventions?
 This image is key because it is the end image of the trailer and shows the drama and tension
reaching its peak, before ending and leaving the audience with unanswered questions about the
stalker and the plot.
 Usually at the end of trailers the drama reaches its peak before it ends, after being built up to
throughout, I have included images below from famous teen dramas to show this.

17. How does our trailer comply with
conventions?
 This shot is finally important because it comes right at the end of the trailer to ensure that the
audience sees the title of the movie last, therefore being more likely to remember the name.
 This is typical for film trailers of any genre, I have included examples below to support this.