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

By Ifrah KhalifIn what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

How my trailer starts?One key characteristic of film trailer is that they all beginning with the audience certificates. The purpose of showing this green screen is to alert the audience of the rating of the film. My trailer is rated a 15 because it warns the audience of the offensive language and the psychological threat, therefore it is not suitable for those who are under the age of 15. I personally selected to use the MPAA rating rather than the BBFC because I strongly feel that using the American rating would ably.

Within my trailer the first shots conformed to the conventions of a real horror trailer by setting the scene with a establishing shot. To reveal the location of the horror and to also conform to the symbolic conventions of horror trailers uses of empty location, such as the park to create enigmas. I also used a abandon toilet with low key lighting to hint the possibility of disequilibrium in the trailer. The fade dissolve edit was also used to connote the supernatural presence within the film also to conform to genre specific conventions of my horror trailers sub genre; which is a psychological/Slasher. First shots in my trailer (THE BOOK)

The production company logo. Furthermore, another characteristic of my trailer which conforms to the conventions of a horror trailer, is the position of the production company logo. Although the logo is position in the middle, the letters reveal themselves one by one, which kind creates a mystery and by position it after the hint to the disequilibrium within my trailer helps to grip the audience.

The break in the tension will excite the audience to watch the footage after the logo as well as creating a crescendo introducing the production company to the audience, which acts as a form of credit. This technique is also used in the teaser trailer for the horror film Deliver Us From Evil which is very similar to manifest in terms of genre and the way in which shots are ordered.

I challenged this convention through the edits I did this by editing a blood splatter, which appears one by one in the logo. I also added another convention of horror film, which is shake camera.

Graphics and Typography Within all trailers the use of graphics and typography is a common convention, which I have mirrored. The particular graphics styles, which I have selected for my film trailer title reflects the tone and the plot of the film.

It also foreshadows the characteristics of the demonstration of the young victims within trailer. I tried to imitate this feature from the horror trailer Dark Feed. The white/cream to connote the good vs evil which is represented by the dark background. I also used this in my trailer typography . The white bold font of the manifest also represents the pure souls of the victims being overpowered by evil force.

Another feature I copied from real horror film trailers was the use of coming soon this is used in real horror trailers to introduce the release date.

Low key lighting Low key lighting used in The Evil Dead trailer

Camera shotsclose ups of mouth

The Evil Dead close up of the mouth makes the audiences more interested in what the character has to stay and within my trailer I was able to show this convention, but I was able to challenge it by having a extreme close up to empathise her word rather than close up. Another horror convention, which I mirrored in my trailer is running through the woods.My trailerThe Evil Dead

As the trailer went on I used faster edits. At first I used smooth transitions to connote the equilibrium and nearer the end I used jump cuts and quick cuts to reflect the disequilibrium and to connote the destruction the evil has caused to the victims and the surroundings. This is another way in which I conformed to the horror film trailer conventions as orphan along with many other horror film trailer follow the same pattern. Editing

Furthermore, in my narrative I used mainly female character to appear helpless and weak which is a convention of the horror genre as women are usually pictured as weak, helpless and inferior. The last exorcism includes this as it is a female character who is attacked by the devil and is overpowered by evil. The same applies to my horror film trailer. The narrative also conforms to the enigma code as my trailer has many ambiguous scenes which will leave the audience with a cliff hanger, a mystery to solve. E.g.. What is the manifest? , what happens when the young lose their soul? The plot is mixed up in order to grip and slightly confuse the audience. Which is a common trait of real horror film trailers such as the iconic trailer Alien.Narrative

Magazine

Mast head I copied the style of Famous mast head. The red is also used to connote danger and blood, which is associated with horror. The bold font and the graphics around the mast head it to enhance it is eye catching and engages customer to buy the magazine. It is also a logo which needs to be promoted. Hence the large font and bright colour which is to conform to the conventions of a horror magazine.

Cover lines I arranged the way I coloured my cover lines to imitate real horror magazines e.g. having the name or articles main focus in white to pull the readers attention. I also included left third to match the way my audience would read and little hints.

Poster

Main image

It could be said that my main image is similar to the main image on Smiley. Although the powerful symbolism does not match my films plot. The message the strong hold of evil is clearly shown through the low key lighting in both posters.

Tag-line Tag line for my posterTag line for The VowThe purpose of taglines is to create enigma to engage the audience into the threatening tone of the poster and it also makes them curious about the plot, therefore prompting them to closely analyse the posters details. Further to this, I also used a similar font to create a sinister tone and to reveal that the poster was a horror film poster.