The document discusses conventions used in horror movie posters and websites. It provides examples of several key conventions including: - Featuring the main character prominently on the poster - Using low-key lighting and colors like black, red, and white for the poster - Including taglines, titles, credits, and release dates on the poster - Placing the production company name and logo on the poster - Adding social media links, trailers, and background music from the trailer on the website - Allowing the title to link back to the home page on the website The document analyzes how these conventions were applied to a poster and website created for a horror film called "The Occupants" to

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

2. Horror Poster Conventions:
- Main character as large image (Antagonist or Protagonist)
- Low key lighting
- Tagline
- Large Title
- Credits
- Release date
- Website link/URL
- Production company name and logo
The main character being the large image is to make sure it represents the film and links back to the title, the low key lighting that is used
around the poster is for added affect so posters don’t look plain and dull, a tagline is used to reference the film, a large title is a common
theme because it stands out to the viewer and draws them in, credits are a legal requirement for posters to have included on them, the
release date is usually inserted to hype people up and get them ready, a website link so people can check out previous work and get to
understand the film, and the production company is on there to give them credit for their work on creating the film.
This is a very brief list of conventions that I have written about for the poster sinister which I have labelled and included on the next page
to fully understand what the conventions are and what common themes to look out for, when going over the poster that I created for our
film called The Occupants as you can see below.

3. Main
Character as
large image
(Antagonist
or
Protagonist)
Tagline
Large title
Low key
lighting)
Credits
Release DateWebsite link/URL
Production
Company
name or logo

4. The first convention that I will be looking at which I have included within my poster is the production company name and
there logo with who they are associated with as well, while including the legal age requirement as well. This is a very
important convention as it is technically credits but for specifically the production company, because it givens them all the
credit for making the film which they deserve, otherwise people could claim the work as their own, or people wont want to
visit their website consisting of existing products they have made meaning they would lose out on a lot pf promotion, so
making sure that the production company is included on the poster is necessary but because it actually isnt important at
all it is usually the smallest aspect on the poster so not a lot of attention is drawn away from the main reason being the
film.
So even though it is necessary to show who helped fund the film it can still be very small as it is still being included, and
that is the reason we included this on ours. This is the same with the credits, it is made in the smallest font because it isnt
important to the viewer, but the poster needs to give acknowledgement to the people who helped fund and create the
film.
The website link is placed below the production companies in a small font as if the reader does want to know more about
the film then they can find it, but it shouldn’t take to much attention away from any of the other features, as it isnt a main
feature on the poster.
I also included the specific release date of the film to inform the audience so that they know this information, but also so
that people can begin to get hyped for the film making them speak about the film increasing its popularity, I coloured this
text white to stick with the rest of the text at the bottom, but sized it larger to make sure people see and read this
information.

5. The second convention that I am looking at is how most posters use/include the main character antagonist or
protagonist as the largest image on the front of the poster. The main character being the stalker/antagonist appears
with a close up shot to make sure it focuses on what the mask is like and also where his eyes are looking this is to
reinforce the idea that he is a stalker and that he will/is always watching. There is also the use of direct mode of
address with the stalker looking straight at the audience making them feel intimidated by the character and also make
them more intrigued about who the character actually is. The way I have positioned the image as the largest but also
right in the middle of the poster shows that they are the centre of attention, and will appear a lot within the film.

6. Furthermore, the colour scheme that I have used is very
clearly shown as the common theme of black, red and
white to clearly indicate the horror genre of the film/trailer
we are making. I think the use of these colours is very
important, this is because the main idea for the colour
scheme is to make it easy to catch the viewers eye and
draw in their attention which this colour scheme does
really well because red and white against the jet black
background stand out very well, while still communicating
the common theme of horror and fear. Another reason
why these colours are used is because they all link to a
certain meaning, like black is linked to darkness and fear of
the unknown because you cant see through darkness, red
has many different meanings but when linked to a horror
genre it is linked to blood, danger etc and then white could
be linked to the opposite something like indicating
innocence and purity, to give the idea that the victim has
done nothing wrong. So the use of this colour scheme is
very effective in many different ways, while always linking
back to the horror genre.

7. The tagline is another very common feature that is usually always included in every poster, this is because
it is meant to give a very short insight that links to the main idea behind the film. The idea behind our
tagline being ‘Leave while you still can’ is very important to the main idea of the film and is probably the
main reason why the stalker starts appearing, because the antagonist lived there as a kid and is where he
killed his parent, and whenever someone moves into this house he appears, and they disappear. The
reason we chose this is because it indicates a side to the stalker which might be apparent in the film, like
he is giving them a chance to leave and he is warning them, but then the word ‘still’ is used to represent
the idea that they wont always have a chance and if they are going to leave it needs to be quick.
The title, this is the biggest piece of text which can be seen on the poster above the tagline as this is the
most important text included and is the main reason why it is the largest, as the other reason is to draw
peoples attention as it stands out very well and remind the viewer what the film is called so that it gets
them thinking deeper about what the film is on. When creating the title we had to make sure that we
engaged with our audience to make sure that they stay and explore its reason, so making the title straight
to the point and simple helps with the grabbing of the viewers attention making them feel more engaged
in the poster making them want to see the film, but also get talking about which will help promote the
trailer.

8. Horror Movie Website Conventions:
- Social Media Links
- Title Is The Link Back To The
Home Screen
- Trailer
- Colour Scheme (Red, White and
Black)
- Navigation Bar
- Film Reviews and Awards
- Sound/Audio – Same That Is In
The Trailer
- Images On The Page
- Credits
- Release Date
- Production
Company/Logo/Website
As you can see from the right hand side I
have picked my own poster which I will
be going into detail on, and then the
don’t breathe website and the cabin in
the woods to reference my website to
the conventions that thee two very
popular horror film use on their
websites.

9. On my website I have included at the bottom of the home screen 4 separate links to the trailers social media websites, so that if the viewer
of the trailer, website and poster is interested in the film and want to find out more because they are intrigued then the social media links
is definitely the best place to find exclusive information about the film. The fact that social media is such a big part of everyone's lives
nowadays it is very important to use them, as this is going to be the most popular place where people will find out about new films and
their trailers. I used these specific 4 types of social media because in my opinion these are the most popular and will generate a larger
audience. I decided to keep them in their standard colour as that is what people are used to, making it very easy to identify what these
icons are, obviously once they are clicked it will open up a new window ready to view. The social media bar is used/seen on every website
you go onto because of how popular they are in creating hype before the film has been released.
The next convention that I have seen a lot when looking at websites, is the
ability to click the title which will take you back to the home screen
without having to click the bar at the top. As you can see from the mouse
icon in the picture when the title is clicked it will take you back to the start
screen, this allows the viewer to make sure that they are on the same
website as I have inserted the title onto most my pages to make sure of
this, but also top keep on reminding the audience the name of the film so
that it will stick in the back of their mind creating further hype for the film.

10. On my website the main thing that I wanted to include and
the biggest thing to include is the trailer as a big video on
the front screen or on another page to make sure that
people can watch the trailer, without having to go
somewhere else to try and find it. If the trailer wasn’t
available to view on the website then there wouldn’t be any
sort of link that the audience can make out, especially when
I have included the soundtrack from the trailer as the
background music for the website showing there is a link, I
chose the audio to be music from the start of the trailer
because I felt like it was very eerie and created a creepy
atmosphere which I found as perfect for the website. The
music plays in a loop so that when the song finishes it will
start again, meaning it doesn’t have to be manually done,
but that option is still there which allows the viewer to stop
or play the song when they want, making the website more
interactive for the viewer instead of a boring experience,
and as you can see from the picture they can also change
the volume of the song or mute the song if they feel the
need to change this.
Another convention that I made sure to include was to stick
with the same colour scheme throughout my poster and
onto website, to make sure it still linked with the horror
genre where possible, the colours have been used for the
same reason as on my poster and is consistent throughout
my whole website to again make sure that I am staying with
the genre. The colours work very well in contrast to one
another making it very easy to make certain parts of the
website stand out more than others, like the title and
tagline.

11. When looking through previous websites that had been created from other conglomerates about the films that they had produced I found
that a navigation bar is a necessary feature in any form as long as it takes you around the website. I decided that I would include a
navigation bar in a simple form so that it is easy to read and use. It is very easy to see being at the top, and because the colour is grey
against black it makes it stand out much more, but not too much so that it would be taking away interest in other main features like the
trailer. The navigation bar is used to quickly take you around the website so you can learn more about the film. The page you click on will
highlight in a dark grey colour to show that is the page you have selected, and so you know what page you are on. The navigation bar will
stay on every page to make sure that you can always get back to the home screen.
This next convention isnt a major convention that is seen on every website, but is included a lot to be classed as a convention. This
convention is the reviews and awards that the trailer/film has received, to make the film seem a lot better and so when the audience see
this, it makes them think that the film is worth watching if the ratings are good as it allows them to judge the film before they have seen it,
possibly making them want to see it more. This feature isnt always included on websites because the ratings could be poor which would
make the film/trailer look bad, so this feature isnt a necessity but can be good to include.

12. As you can see from the image above, I am showing that I have used images on the website to illustrate what the film is about in some cases and
to make the website look better. Images are used on the majority of movie websites not just horror, and this is because they are a great way of
showing certain parts within a film without giving away too much, they hint at certain areas that could happen within a film. Also if the whole
website was just filled with text, it wouldn’t apply to all people because they don’t want to have to read for ages, when they could juts look at
pictures and understand the same, which makes images much more convenient to use as well as text.
Another convention that we included and is necessary is the release date of the film, this is used to create hype for the time it is being released
and to inform people. People also like to know when things are coming so that they can prepare for its release. On the other hand, this could be
seen as challenging the conventions because not all companies like to share the release date as they want to build anticipation for the film and
keep the audience intrigued.
Credits are also important to include within the website as well, this is because if the website is the first thing that is seen then knowing who
stars in the film is a necessary way to create hype. Also if they know who has helped make the film, then they can make judgements about the
film and decide whether they want to see the film. The credits are also a legal requirement to include as they show credit to the people who
have made the film, but don’t need to be large as it isnt important.
The last convention I have listed is the production company, logo and website. Again, the same as the credits it would be a legal requirement to
include this as it shows who has made the film. While the website is there to spread the promotion for the film and get more people to hear
about it. I have also used the white colour scheme to make them stand out more so that they have some relevance to the website, and so
people know what it is.

13. Horror Trailer Conventions:
- Green certificate
- Production Company Logo
- Establishing Shots
- Gradual Increase In Pace
- Score/Sound Tempo etc
- Sudden Bursts/Jump Scares
- Final Credits/Release Date/Website
The trailer conventions for a horror film are quite
different to the conventions of a trailer under the
action genre for example. Horror films are usually
made to scare people so have different techniques for
this to work effectively, while they do have there
differences there are also a significant amount of
similarities which any genre trailer has.

14. The main reason we included the green certificate is to inform
the audience, the green certificate shows the audience which
age groups are allowed to watch the film when it is released in
cinemas, this is usually shown at the start of all films but
sometimes it isnt, this is mainly with horror films because
audiences will know that the age rating will be high being too
high for children to watch so it would be a pointless feature to
have at the start. So it could be seen as challenging the
conventions as we have made a horror film, but it isnt a huge
feature so people don’t really notice this as much.
During the start of our trailer we included our production name
and logo animatic. This is seen as a necessary feature for trailers
to include as it shows the audience who the film is produced by.
This is effective in some ways as it could make them want to
watch the film more than before, but because they have never
heard the company it might put them off, which is why some
companies don’t always show this in their trailer. We decided to
include this because we felt like it was necessary for our
audience to know who we are, possibly making them spread the
company who made the film getting others to watch it, so could
be seen as a form of advertising.

15. This convention is showing an establishing shot. This technique
is usually used at the start of trailers and films to introduce the
type of place it is being shot in. This is very effective and is used
a lot because it indicates certain things about the film for the
audience to understand better, it sets the scene very well. This
isn't used a lot throughout trailers because they are short, so
might not be very important, but we decided to challenge this
and include one to give our audience a better understanding of
the setting.
- Throughout trailers there is always a gradual increase in pace leading to the final couple of scenes which are always the most action packed
and tense. The trailer usually starts off pretty slow just introducing everything and slowly leads into more of the action and anxious scenes
towards the end, this is a convention that is used because it makes the audience want to stay until the end, meaning they will watch the
whole thing making them hyped to see the film. This technique is used over all trailers and usually any genre as it works so well, so we
followed this and made the ending of our trailer the most action packed which was done very well. We started off by introducing the
characters and their life, then started to introduce the problem that they had to face and then vaguely showed what happened, so we stuck
with a traditional equilibrium that horror films/trailers like to follow.
- When creating our trailer we made sure to spend a lot of time on deciding what sounds we were going to include and where we should
include them. This is because the sound building up creates a very surreal effect making what is on screen much better and more effective
especially when the sound links with what is happening on screen.
Another music convention would be sudden bursts that happen at jump scares etc to make them much more terrifying for the audience to sit
and watch making them tense and on the edge of their seat. This is a convention because everyone watches horror movies to be scared, so
using sudden bursts combined with jump scares makes these moments much more daunting and intensifying for the audience.

16. At the very end of the trailer you have the short credits that appear consisting of the title of the film to remind the audience of the film the
trailer is for, this will make sure that they know the name of the film and will keep on reminding them about what this new film is so it isnt
forgotten.
The release date is also included to let the audience know when the film is going to be released so that they can have more information about
the film and get ready for when it is released. This will create hype for the film and is why its used within all trailers, and if not then it will say
‘coming soon’ which can be seen as adding more suspense to its release but we challenged this as we thought it was better to let our audience
know.
Another thing that is included would be the website link, this is usually included at the end of the trailer with the rest because it isn't important
enough to have its own part. It is still included so that people can visit the webpage after they have viewed the trailer so that they can learn
more and become further interested in the film, this shows that the products are all linked together and are about the same film so people
don’t get confused.