Paul Birkett

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

Marketing Campaign

The main purpose of a film trailer is to market the film to a suitable target audience. The distributors want to make people aware of their products in order for them to be successful. It usually informs the audience what genre the film belongs to, tells them when it will be released, outlines that plot and contains some positive reviews. The way that they are marketed depends on the type of audience that they are trying to connect to. For example, a romantic comedy would be most likely aimed at teenage girls. Magazines and posters follow this same rule and use fonts, colours and layouts that would attract the right audience. Articles about the film will be present in magazines that people who like the genre are likely to read.

Trailers that influenced my work

There were a couple of film trailers that really helped me establish an appropriate look and feel of my own trailer. These were:• The Hills Have Eyes• 28 Days Later• Dead Man’s Shoes

The first two listed are in a more traditional style and feature a very fast pace accompanied by flashing images and loud electronic music. They also feature opening captions to give a brief background story so that the audience knows what to expect. The Hills Have Eyes trailer begins with a rendition of “California dreaming” to lull the audience into a false sense of security. The track and the picture jitters to create tension and invoke feelings of dread. Most shots following this are broken up with black frames placed in between the clips in the editing stage. This is a clever way to show a fraction of the film whilst still keeping the viewer interested. A heart beat sound effect has also been added for more tension. The cuts become very quick during the end.

The 28 days later trailer also has sudden flashes of shots which are broken up by captions. They are in an eroded text which relates to the genre of the film (horror). Some shots are met with a sudden drum hit sound effect to give more impact. The dialog is of people shouting to invoke panic. The captions near the end zoom towards us and the cuts get quicker to create tension. Near the end, choral music starts which accompanies the scenes of carnage happening on screen. This goes against normal horror trailer conventions but it is very effective at distorting the viewers view of the film and making them more intrigued by it.

Dead Man’s Shoes was more niche due to the low budget and the way the trailer is constructed. It does not follow traditional conventions by starting with an establishing shot of the characters walking in the countryside. Normally, we are thrown straight into the action with close-ups and hand-held camera movements to disorientate us. Also, the music at the start is calming, the cuts are not as frequent and fade transitions are used for a more calming effect on the viewer. Then the mood changes and the cuts are more frequent, characters start shouting dialog, red and white frames flash periodically between cuts to give a subliminal message of violence and horror. The music is low, menacing and electronic at this point. The number of close-ups increase and cuts are made jittery in editing. Then, haunting choral music starts accompanied by positive reviews displayed in eroded text. The music cuts out suddenly when the titles fade in, zooming towards us for more tension. The website is shown at the end.

Ways my trailer follows conventions

My trailer does not have a voice over. I have noticed that most horror films do not feature a voice over because this is more typical of comedies or spoofs.

My trailer features some electronic music with a menacing mood. This is something used in most horror trailers.

I use red and white frames to be inserted between some cuts to give a subliminal message of violence and horror.

Some of the cuts are short to quicken the pace of the trailer.

There is lots of violence in my trailer which is typical of red band trailers.

The colours are vibrant which I did in the editing stage. More and more films are being colour corrected. This especially makes the blood more dramatic to witness.

The characters at the start of my trailer are shown to be happy and enjoying themselves. This is to lull my audience into a false sense of security. This is done a lot in horror trailers.

My captions and titles zoom into the viewer to build tension.

My trailer features a variety of shots and lots of fast cuts which are typical of horror/thriller films.

The film title is shown at the end and there are other captions present.

Some of the shots in my trailer are hand-held to give a sense of disorientation. This is used frequently in modern horror movies.

Ways my trailer challenges conventions

The dialog in my trailer is very minimal which means that the audience rely on the visuals and the titles to get an idea of the story and plot.

Classical music is used in my trailer which is not usual of horror trailers. This was used in Dead man’s shoes to create a twisted mood to mess with the audience. Something that should be calming has a new meaning to it.

My film has no clear hero because all of the actions onscreen are controversial and morally wrong. Usually, a trailer shows a character who audiences can relate to and trust to make the right decisions.

Some of the takes are quite long which makes my trailer seem more arty and challenges the usual fast pace of horror trailers.

Poster/magazine conventions

Posters – Contain all the information about the film that is needed, positive reviews to attract film lovers, sum up the genre of the film with a tagline, use the colour scheme to its advantage and have a professional layout, usually show an image taken from the film of the star, usually contain bright vibrant colours to stand out and catch peoples eye.

Magazine covers – the magazine covers that I looked at (mainly Empire and Total Film) featured some aspects that are commonly used. The mastheads are large and bold which demand attention from the reader. The stars featured on the front are usually relaxed which gives and informal feel to the magazine or serious if they are in character. There is lots of overlapping of different layers to make the cover more visually appealing. The star usually has eye contact with the reader to make it more personal.

Poster analysis

Taglines are usually featured on posters

The main image is not a character from the movie which is typical of film posters. This looks more like a rare, vintage movie poster.

Stars names are included at the top which is where they are usually positioned. The text has been stretched to draw attention to them. This is done in many posters

My reviews are positioned here. The layout is similar to posters that I have looked at

The film title here is in big, bold font to demand attention

The release date relates back to the genre, website listed

The film rating is shown here

Cast list is aligned in the centre for a more symmetrical look

Colour scheme relates back to the films theme of ultra violence. Bright red would make it stand out at a bus stop for example

Magazine cover analysis

Article stories are featured down the side

All of my text is aligned with each other which makes the overall look more visually appealingBarcode goes against

conventions by being vertical. Most magazines have barcodes horizontal.

Masthead is large and bold

Layers overlapping hereDate and issue number shown here

Footer bar shows other stories that are featured

The main image of the star gives an informal look and feel because of the relaxed position he is in

Drop shadow helps to give more depth to the image

Eye contact connects with the reader, making it more personal