Evaluation Question 1

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

Film trailer

I believe my media trailer follows and challenges the forms of conventions of real and existing media products. My media product does challenge this because when we made the movie trailer we made sure that this was noticeable from other existing productions similar to this. We did this by making sure that our target audience would know that this is film is a specific genre, as ours is a horror and our intentions were to follow the conventions by doing this. Before I started constructing my final piece, I did a lot of research on which style of horror movie I want to base my film trailer around.

The main convention we followed was to stick to what is called “Freytag’s Pyramid.” This is where a movie trailer would start off with Exposition which is a slow paced start. This then turns in to rising action, and this is where the audience should start to get tense and scared as the action is building up and the pace is getting faster. After this there is the climax this is the top part of the pyramid and the main bit, as this is where the fast pace comes to the trailer and this is where the audience start to get nervous and tense. After this there is the falling action which is after the climax the pace dies down. The final part to the pyramid is the Denouement as this is where the end comes and either it dies down or there is one last jump to scare the audience. We have I feel used this in the film trailer very well as I feel this as we use the background music and the timing of the clips well which brings the exposition, rising action, climax, falling action and denouement out well. This I feel because the trailer starts off with quite piano playing with it being fairly peaceful. This then after about twenty seconds and bang from the background sound occurs and this is where the falling action happens. With the tempo changing the pace is getting faster and this builds it up to the climax. After the climax the tempo dies down as this is the falling action, this is when the title comes up after this the denouement occurs when the female protagonist is getting dragged down the hallway screaming. This is how one of the main reasons why are trailer follows conventions. This is because it draws the audience in with a slow building start, then to the rising pace action where there are scary clips to get the audience on their seat.

Another convention I feel that we followed was the location and mise-en-scene of the trailer. I feel this because after doing a lot of research we found that most horror movies the antagonist is normally dressed in black clothing with a mask. After finding this out we thought as an idea we would replicate this as most of my target audience like films with a antagonist dressed in a scary mask and dark clothes. We made sure that the main antagonist wore dark clothes. He ended up wearing a black jacket, black jeans and black shoes. I feel that this is important that the antagonist of our trailer has to dress stereotypically like scary characters. This is because if he was to wear a white t shirt and a pair of blue jeans with the scary mask, he wouldn’t look as near scary and then this would make the film less scary and the target audience will not then like this. Also in our trailer our four characters are all wearing clothes they would normally dress as a teenager on a night out or when friends are coming round. After doing research for looking at the type of clothing the protagonists wear we found that what they wore is not as relevant as what the antagonist wears. This meant that they could wear ordinary clothes. Also through doing research on film trailers on youtube etc, we found that the location is very important. Our trailer was filmed in a modern day house and just outside the house. This I feel is challenging the conventions as a stereotypical film is normally filmed in a scary forest or a haunted mansion. Our film is filmed in a modern day home and I feel this is different to the conventions of media. I think that this is different as the target audience would be a lot more scared as they normally watch a horror film which s set in a forest and this is scary but they feel that this is not real. But my film is set in a home similar to what they live in and this would make them think it may happen to them, this would make them feel a lot more scared. Also another factor that follows the convention which relates to the conventions of media are that the time of day is important as if the film was filmed in the daytime with a scary antagonist is chasing the protagonists with a knife it will not be as scary as if it is set stereotypically and at night. This i feel is where i follow the conventions well in this trailer.

Film Poster

I feel i have followed conventions well for the film poster as i have followed a basic structure to make this look professional. I have kept the main image in the middle which is what most of the film posters do when I have researched them. I feel that this does not need to challenge the conventions as i feel that if they were to be changed the film poster would then not look as good as it could. I felt that also the layout did not need challenging to the conventions as I feel this is important and i think that following a layout similar to other posters was a good idea. This would then appeal to the target audience as they would find this similar to other films they like.

Film Magazine

I feel I have followed conventions of media rather than challenge them. I have done this because for a magazine to be profitable you would want it to be similar to other magazines so it can compete in the same market with this. I hve followed conventions by adding things to my magazine such as a pug which is important and used in nearly all magazines for the design. Also adding a barcode follows the conventions but this is needed as then customers will not be able to buy this, so this is needed. Also adding banners to the top and bottom of the page is important as this advertises other parts to the magazine which is needed.