Rothna Aayman

I have carried out research on products such as magazines, posters and teaser trailers.

After analysing the magazine covers (Empire, Sight and Sound and Total Film) I have established that they have certain elements which are conventional, i.e. the use of Masthead and the way that it is big and bold which immediately catches the audience’s attention, making them aware of the product. For that reason I found this very effective and decided to implement these forms into my own magazine. I used sight & sound to promote my teaser trailer.

The background colour of the magazines tend to be a dark colour with the main cover line a much brighter colour, therefore I decided to have my background as the image from my teaser trailer which has a dark atmosphere, this also creates a link between my teaser trailer & magazine.

My main cover line (PSYCHOPATH) is in the colour red, which also corresponds with the colour of the clothes that the villain wears.

I also analysed 3 different posters consisting of the same genre as my final product. I was able to identify that the genres involved suspense by the use of the main image e.g. both ‘SALT’ and ‘TAKEN’ have their main characters holding a gun.

Further, in the obsessed poster it includes images of 3 people on the front, this allows the audience to establish that they are the main characters. This gave me the idea to include the two main characters from my teaser trailer on my poster.

Most of these posters tend to focus on the face of the main character, usually the eyes/facial expression, for example in all 3 of my posters that I analysed; the facial expressions of the main characters are very intense.

However I went against this convention and had my main characters’ backs turned against the audience as I believe that this creates a more mysterious feel, further depicting the genre of the film and making the audience want to know more. I also asked my audience what they thought of using this mage & they felt that it was a good idea as the image itself portrays a clear message of someone being followed further illustrating my genre.

On the whole I believe that my ancillary products are conventional.

My magazine cover is conventional as I felt that in order for my audience to understand and recognize that my product is a magazine, it had to make use of its forms and conventions. For example initially I wanted to place the main cover line at the bottom however I felt that this would be confusing as the title of my poster is placed under the centre of the page. Another feature which I found was conventional in magazines is the cover lines which are placed on the right hand side & are in a much smaller font.

I decided to stick with the original forms and conventions of a poster, i.e. placing the title of the film in the centre of the poster, having the production credits in a narrow font, I found these very common when carrying out my research.

For my main product (teaser trailer) I have challenged some of the forms of a thriller film as I have combined it with a suspense genre, creating a less of a gory, gruesome effect and more of an interesting, tense, nerve-racking feel.

From my research I established that a typical thriller convention is the focus of the main character that has a troubled or ominous personal history. This is typically the female character. For example in the thriller Obsessed, Ali Larter plays a menacing character who wants to have the life of the character played by Beyonce.

For my final product I focused on the character in the film Costello, who portrays an ominous, troubled young man who stalks Rosaline, (who is the innocent victim), and wants to torture her. This is a common focus of a psychological thriller. Therefore I chose to develop and remain with this convention because it allows the audience to evidently see the focus of the film.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=ccORH_fUz0I (0:15) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fr7dU2rfODM

(0:42)

A common convention I found in all films is that the fade transition represents time pass. The longer the fade the longer the time pass. Therefore instead of using words i.e. “1 hour later”, to portray the message that the time has passed I used the fade transition which lasts for approximately 4 seconds to allow the audience to establish that little time has passed and Rosaline is now at home.

I was also inspired by final destination 5 teaser trailer. I thought the fact that each shot which was a short glimpse placed a very mysterious intense effect. Therefore I also decided to use this form in my own teaser trailer to create a mystifying feel.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=JU625g_Lh_k (copy and paste URL to view)