Q1 - In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

For my horror trailer, I have decided to inform my target audience by creating advertisements such as making teaser posters to draw the audience into a better view of my horror trailer. The main source of what advertisement which I used was creating a horror trailer which lasted approximately 2 minutes. During this trailer it shows a narrative in what would happen if this was an actual film.

The whole purpose of creating the products during this coursework was to mostly promote the film and have more audience to contribute by making a critical feedback. I made research on the whole horror genre on my blogger and posted frequently analysis on past horror genres to compare and relate to mine.

Research

For my research I also analysed particular horror trailers so that I had some inspiration carried to make my own trailer. One trailer I admired the most would be “Scream 4” as it is quite a modern horror film so I grabbed some ideas from them and mould it into my trailer. The effect I liked most would be the dramatic fading in and out of every action sequence, as it showed the audience the tensest parts of the trailer.

Scream 4 inspired our editing techniques

I also did research on existing magazines to show that I fully understand the main conventions on how to make one for my task. I looked at the basic conventions of making my own film magazine, those conventions consist of a Masthead at the top of the page and how effective it is when you put it on the top left hand side of the page. I have also noticed that magazine companies always have a barcode which is always placed near the bottom right hand side of the page.

Comparing my trailer to existing trailers

This would be the disruption shot, which then brings in the fast paced editing and  horror  music

This would be my disruption shot, which kicks off the fast paced editing. showing the beginning of our narrative structure 

Researching recent products at the start of my project made me realise the typical forms and conventions of a real media product out today. "30 days of night" was a horror film which I chose to briefly analyse, however as a group we looked through a range of horror trailers which would inspire us to apply in our own trailer. Analysing these trailers both physically and mentally we found that the typical conventions were:
-Gentle diegetic sound to start off the equilibrium
-During the "disruption" lots of fast paced shots and sounds are used to complement the action on the screen
-A disturbing shot, often someone killed, dead or hurt.
-More disequilibrium are used than equilibrium.
-More cuts and more transitions during the disequilibrium scenes.
-Most often has a vulnerable character and a villain.
-The soundtrack often changes to create a thrill.
-A scare shot at the end of the trailer.
-Ends with a title card and credit block

Typical convention of female in a "disturbing" shot

Conventions for trailer
In our horror trailer we followed some of the typical conventions which existing films used.
-One soundtrack that starts off gentle and eerie then crescendos into a heavy thump of non diegetic sounds
-We start the trailer with an equilibrium
-We have many flashbacks
-A disturbing shot of a victim being killed
-During the disruption we have lots of fast paced shots and sound that complement the action on screen
-The editing becomes more apparent with more shots and shot angles
-Fade to black to create the suspense
-Title card and credit block

Vulnerable male as a victim

Stereotypical young female who gets killed

Our unique villains killing equipment

In our trailer we challenged the conventions of a typical horror trailer by having a young vulnerable male as one of the victims as he runs away from the villain. This would be challenging the conventions because stereotypically it is a fragile female who is the victim. However, We also followed a typical convention by having a young female being killed first in our trailer. Another convention which we challenged would be the villains prop, we decided to use a shovel as the killing equipment. In a typical horror film you would usually see a knife or sharp instrument used to murder or hurt a victim. We chose the shovel in order to challenge the normal conventions.

Conventions for posters and front cover of magazines
As well as looking at trailers we also analysed magazine covers and posters which were both used to create an target audience and to also promote the product.

Here is a existing poster showing what a typical horror poster presents, as you can see:
-The red writing connotates the feel of danger
-A credit block allowing the audience to know who is involved in the film
-A scary image with manipulated lighting to create a greater outcome
-A image inside of an image exposing a lady screaming which then shows the vulnerability and scariness
-Deformed title text shows the creepiness of the film

 Here are some existing film magazines which show the typical conventions on a front cover.
-Bold and easy to see the masthead at the top of the page
-Main image and features are easy to see, biggest hook
-Website, date, issues, price and barcode
-Image is similar with the hooks and subheadings
-Red writing to imply danger
-The occasional free gifts

Existing "empire" magazine

My final magazine design

I decided to base my magazine on a already existing magazine product in order to make the magazine cover I made look more realistic. So my magazine would consist of similar conventions to the ones you see above.

Overall I believe my main product and ancillary task both, challenge and develop forms and conventions of real media products as I believe that they look realistic and would easily fit into the horror genre on the book shelves in shops. I also feel that our horror trailer does actually challenge conventions, example having a shovel being the killing instrument. But uses the traditional horror conventions and follows the form of an original horror trailer.