The media student discusses how their horror film trailer uses and develops conventions of real trailers while also challenging some conventions. The trailer uses common horror settings like schools and forests. It keeps the killer's face hidden, includes ominous music and handheld camerawork during chase scenes. However, the student begins with a montage rather than just the production company. The killer is also a female, challenging the male killer convention. The magazine cover follows conventions like positioning but challenges expectations by featuring a powerful female killer rather than a victim. The poster features an unusual reflective shot of the main character but includes standard elements like the title and tagline positioned conventionally.

1. Evaluationybonee

2. q1In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?The trailer I created uses commonly found forms and conventions of other real products, not least the setting used. We had a school setting, a wood and a house as our 3 main places of action, and these are found in many films in the horror genre, such as Prom Night with its critical location of the school for the death of a student there. Also such films as Cabin Fever or Texas Chainsaw Massacre with their forest/wood setting also helps give a creepy and more frightening feel to a film, and this is why we included this setting, with the idea of a chase taking place. Linking from this idea of making the trailer creepy, we used low key lighting to create a dark mise-en-scene, which again we identified as a key convention when analysing horror film trailers, as the darkness in the scenes connoted something was going to happen, and also gives a sense of mystery as the audience don’t know what is round the corner. We didn’t want to give away too much about the killer, so made sure that in the majority of the shots with the killer included, her face was not scene, or was not very visible, and this came from ideas from other films where you don’t find out much about the killer until the end, with a twist in the plot and the killer being unexpected. But also in such films, like Scream, the killer wears a mask to hide their face, we thought this would be a good idea but we had no masks that would work with the storyline so decided on the keeping the killer’s face excluded from the frame, and this also added to the enigma code and mystery about who it is. I found from watching other film trailers that a title screen of the production company was included at the beginning of the trailer, and this is where I again followed a convention of trailers, but where my trailer differs is I have used a montage of shots as the beginning of the trailer, then had the production company after this, so I did keep the inclusion of the production company but just had it as the forth shot. None of the trailers I watched started with a montage and I think this is a way my trailer developed its own visual impact, as I wanted to have a quick overview of some creepy shots that would draw in the audience’s attention but also connote a horror style to the trailer from the very beginning.

3. Cont...The non-diegetic sounds we included are another addition which helped us to stay close to the conventions of horror film trailers. One particular example is the eerie violin sound we used, as this is a staple of horror trailers as it does sound chilling and creates a fright mode of address. We employed a lot of handheld camera work in our trailer as this is another effective camerawork technique I found used throughout professional horror trailers. In our trailer as the girl is running through the woods handheld camera work is used, and also again when the killer is following their victim down the corridor. This was to make the audience feel more involved in the action, but also as they are seeing it from the killer’s point of view. When it comes to the narrative of our trailer, it follows the traditional Todorovian structure of peaceful at the start, then an abrupt disruption followed by a death. And with the main characters being teenagers, this is another idea following forms of real products such as ‘The Hole 3D’ as this focused around 3 teenagers in their home. Where our trailer challenges conventions and stereotypes is our having a female killer. This is not seen in the majority of horror films as males are represented as being strong and tough so they are seen as the killers, but we wanted a female to mix it up a little and subvert audience gender expectations.The colour red is important in horror films as it conventionally connotes death and blood, and this is something that we referenced but developed as we had the killer wearing red gloves. In many films the killer abides by an all black vestural code which we also used with the black coat the killer was wearing. Finally the last shots of our trailer were information about the release date and finally the name of the film. This came to us as we watched other trailers and we saw this was the common way of ending them. We decided that worked well and chose to follow this convention.

4. Mag q1MagazineI wanted to make sure that my magazine front cover looked like others out around this time, so I followed some of the key conventions of film magazines. Critical was the position of the masthead, as they are most commonly found at the top of the cover, so I followed this rule and also gave it a film related name to help connote the film magazine genre. Also, they all include usually one main image which has the person looking straight out at the audience to create a direct mode of address, and this is again a guideline which I followed, with my image being a close up and the model looking right out of the magazine cover to draw the audience in. To help sell the magazine and the stories included in it I used buzz words which is another convention of magazines, such as the word ‘exclusive’ as it makes people believe they are getting the first look, and it makes it seem better for the audience. When it came to the sell lines, I decided to develop some methods I have seen used, and position them all down the left hand side so they flowed together while not getting in the way of the main image and drawing away the attention as our film is supposed to be the main focus. Women on magazine covers are usually represented as sex objects or weak victims, so I challenged this idea with my main image being a strong powerful woman/killer as this links with the narrative of our trailer, but also creates a new look for my magazine. A way in which I have challenged conventions and forms of real magazine cover is through my use of a red tint, as I have not seen this on many front covers and I think may be seen as something different helping to establish a brand identity. I did this to help the white writing stand out even more, and also deepen the connotations of horror as red has an index to death, danger and blood. The half shadowed image could also be said to challenge forms and usually images are fully lit and clear, but I wanted to give an idea of a split personality and this was my way for doing it on the cover, which I think works well, and the knife being included is a powerful connotative object in its own right.

5. posterPosterThe one large main image I have used for the poster is another way in which I follow the forms of real film posters as this is done throughout them all, but then saying this, the image I have chosen also challenges what you would expect to find on a poster, as they are usually a shot of the main character looking all interesting and intriguing, where as ours is the main character looking at her own reflection to show the killer. It is more challenging to understand but gives away some information about the storyline which is good for the potential audience to know, as this could encourage them to watch the film. All films seem to have a slogan, and this is why we decided to follow that convention and create our very own slogan: ‘It only takes a split second’. This gives another indication as to what may happen in the film, with the word split being key in signifying the ‘split’ personality of the main character. We positioned this under the title as from looking at many other posters this is how they are laid out. We developed our poster as we included a key visual motif throughout each of our products, which is the red glove, and this is visible on the poster and draws in some attention as it is a bright colour but gives off connotations of death. We have made sure that a clear genre has been signified with the horror theme shown and the dark mise-en-scene and knife included. The way I see that we have challenged other forms of posters was first, we were going to have ours in a landscape layout, which is not the most common way to present a poster as people are used to it in portrait with information leading from the top down. We then changed this but kept the mirror and reflection idea, which is not what you would expect from a poster, as they are usually more ‘straight forward’ but we wanted a more detailed idea of what our film is about to be suggested.