1. In what ways does your media product use, develop or

challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

Magazine In relation to our magazine front cover we have used and developed forms and conventions of real movie magazines, we based our magazine on an existing front cover which was an empire magazine as shown below. Our layout was inspired by this magazine and follows many of the conventions of a typical movie magazine.

Magazine – Title The title of the magazine is placed at the top of the page, it is the largest text on the page, we put it in a clear, bold font so it stands out amongst the rest of the magazine, this is so that when somebody sees it on the shelf they automatically know what magazine it is and it catches there eye, having a large clear magazine title is extremely common in many magazines, such as the empire magazine.

Magazine – Film Name The text that is the second largest on the page is the name of the film name, this is similar to the Empire magazine, the reason we have done this is so the film that is featured in the magazine stands out to the audience and they can identify it immediately, the name of the film is placed 3 quarters of the way down the page on top of the main image, this is so it gives the readers the idea that the main image is linked to the film title and they may gain a sense of what the film is about.

Magazine – Main Image In regards to the main image it is of the main character in the film trailer who brings across the horror feel to the trailer. the image fills up most of the page and is the main focus similar to the Empire magazine. The image is of her waist upwards; she has a strong, evil expression on her face however you can only see parts of it as her hair is in front of her face which causes her to look dark and dirty. The appearance of the main character will intrigue the audience and they will have questions such as who is she, why does she look like that and what is her part in the film, these unanswered questions will entice the readers to go and watch the film.

Magazine – Other Elements Another element of our magazine that is similar to the Empire magazine is where we have positioned everything and the different elements on the page we placed a strap line at the top which again appears on the Empire magazine, it says ‘win tickets to the premiere of The Ruins’ again this links in with the film trailer as it is promoting the film and it gives the readers information on what is going to be inside

We have also included little pieces of text around the edge of the page explaining what kind of things that can be found in the magazine.

A further thing which is similar to the Empire magazine is the fact that the film slogan is placed on the front cover under the film title, this gives the readers a little more information on what the story line is going to be and it will draw them in and make them want to go and watch the film trailer and then the actual film.

Magazine – Conventions Challenged

Things we have challenged in terms of the movie magazine are, on the empire magazine there is a strip of text at the top our is similar as there is still text at the top however it is more of strap line We also have a strap line at the

bottom of that page that does not appear on the empire magazine. Another thing we challenged is the movie strip towards the bottom of the page, ours joins onto the strap line whereas on the empire magazine there is an empty space, by having it join onto our strap line it makes our magazine appear fuller. 

PosterIn terms of our film poster again it corresponds to existing film posters and follows many of the conventions. We have used one particular poster to base our film poster around, it is the static poster. The layout of our film poster was inspired by the static poster as shown. We placed the movie title 3 quarters down the page, under that are the names of the producers, right at the bottom are the credits and at the top is the movie slogan, all these elements and where they are placed reflect the static magazine, this layout is common in many other film magazines that we researched.

Poster – Film TitleLooking at the poster the text that stands out dramatically from the rest is the film title, this is because it is by far the largest text on the page, it further stands out as it is red and the rest of the poster is black and white. Again this is like the static poster as the name of the movie is the largest text, this ensures that the audience knows what the name of the movie being advertised is and they can instantly try to connect the title to the image, this will draw them into the movie and give them a connection and make them want to watch the movie. Another reason as to why it is beneficial that the movie title stands out is because if people only have a short amount of time to glance at the poster they will be able to look at the image and get the name of the movie so they are able to refer back to it when they later have time.

Poster - TaglineAnother element that is the same as the Static poster is the slogan, having a slogan on the film poster is a very common convention as it gives the readers further information on what the film will /be about. On both posters the slogan is placed at the top of the page and it stands alone, this is a common place for a slogan to be, the reason for this is that the audience won’t get distracted and they will be able to clearly read the slogan.

Poster - ImageIn terms of the image we made it black and white similar to the Static poster, this gives it a darker eerie feel which corresponds with the horror movie genre and it will instantly tell the audience what genre the movie is without them having to read it. Also having the image black and white helps it to stand out amongst the other film posters as it looks different and has a more interesting feel. The image that we used was of the main character Rosie, she is the one who brings the element of horror through in the film, it is effective to use an image of the main character as again when they go to watch the movie they will be familiar to thins character which may result in them enjoying the movie more. In the image Rosie is holding a saw, this saw plays a significant part in the movie as it is what is used to kill the characters, and therefore this image gives a hint to the audience of what might happen.

PosterJust under the movie title we have placed the names of the producers, one of the conventions of a film poster is to have the names of the producers they are either placed towards the bottom or at the top of the page, mine are placed towards the bottom similar to the Static poster, producers names are normally placed on the poster as the names of producers can be recognisable to the audience, of they recognise the name it may persuade them to come and watch the movie.

PosterFinally right at the bottom I have the credits this is very typical and is one of the main conventions of a film poster, the credits have all the information of the film company along with distributers etc.

Film Trailer In terms of the movie trailer, we analysed a variety of horror trailers to gather ideas on the generic conventions and what typically appears in a horror movie trailer, by doing this we enabled our trailer to look more professional as we gained more knowledge on movie trailers in general. One of the main trailers that we took inspirations from ‘The Conjuring’ we analysed the different parts of the trailer and have incorporated sections into our work.

Film Trailer- PaceLooking at the narrative pace my trailer starts slow by setting the scene and trying to engage people as the tension builds up, once the suspense has been build up to the maximum point there is a fast pace section where all the drama is crammed into a small space of time, there are very short, fasted paced scene which show clips of the main action scenes, this is very typical of horror movie trailers. Also Todorov’s theory says that typically trailers start with a state of equilibrium and then it gets disrupted, this is what happens in my trailer as the equilibrium is when the friends are in the park and it is disrupted when they enter the woods.

Film Trailer – Non-LinearMy trailer is non-linear which means that it is non chronological order, again this is very typical of trailers as they don’t want to give away the whole storyline however they need to give the audience enough so they are hooked onto the trailer and they have unanswered questions which will make them want to go and watch the entire trailer.

Goes from scene with

file

To the woods

Back to the file scene

Film Trailer - LocationA typical location that horror movie trailers are set are in a woods or forest, this is a generic convention, one of the trailers we analysed that was set in a woods was ‘The Blair Witch Project’ this is about a group of friends who went into a woods searching for something. We took inspiration from this and set our trailer in the woods, it is about a group of friends who went into the woods and were being taunted by something.

The Ruins: Wood Massacre

The Blair Witch Project

Film Trailer – Running Scene

Another element that is similar to ‘The Blair Witch Project’ is the running with the camera scene, ‘The Blair Witch Project’ is filmed from the point of view of the characters and the audience see what the characters see, we have a scene in our trailer where there is someone running with a camera, this is used in various trailers including ‘The Blair Witch Project’ the effect this has is it makes the audience feel as if they are in the film and they are able to immerse themselves fully into the trailer.

Film Trailer – Costumes The costumes in the trailer follow the generic convention s of a horror movie trailer as normally the person who is taunting and is the scary thing is dressed in white as this is a typical ghost colour; Rosie in our trailer is wearing a white dress, this also connotates innocence however the blood stains show that something is not quite right. The friends are all dressed quite casually which gives is a more real vibe.

Rosie -White with blood stains

Casual clothing

Film Trailer - MakeupIn relation to the makeup in the trailer, Rosie’s makeup is very dark, she has blood on her face along with bruises, this shows the audience that she has gone through something traumatic and it is influencing what actions she is carrying out now. Dark, bloody and gruesome makeup is extremely common in horror movie trailers as it adds to the horror aspect and it makes the film scarier.

Film Trailer - ActionThere is lots of action in our trailer which is again very common in horror movie trailers as usually the suspense is build up then there is a big release which causes the most impact on the audience and the action is the most persuasive element in trailers. In ‘The Conjuring’ there is a section where the audience are shown short fast clips of what happens during the tense moments in the movie, this also appears in our trailer as we have sections of the scenes when the teenagers are running away from Rosie, this is the most tense and exciting part of the trailer used to draw people in. To create these tense parts fast paced editing has to be used, this is an extremely common editing technique used in horror movie trailers.

Film TrailerSound that we used in our trailer is also the conventional music that you would find in a horror trailer, at the beginning creepy slow music is used to build up the suspense then there is s loud bang to attract audience attention further then it goes into fast paced scary music which helps to add to the horror aspect in the trailer.

Film Trailer – Challenging ConventionsThe ways that our trailer challenges conventions of a typical horror movie trailer are that, usually horror movies are set in the night time when it is dark outside; this is because it works in favour for the genre. However our trailer has been filmed in the day time which is not typical of horror movie trailers, but during our trailer the lighting is very dull and gloomy instead of being bright and sunny, therefore it still adds to the horror genre.

Film Trailer – Challenging Conventions

Another way in which our trailer challenges convention is that normally in films the male is the more dominant character as expressed by Laura Mulvey, as she says women are seen as the more vulnerable character, however our trailer challenges this idea as the female characters are the one that are up for the adventure and are pushing for them all to go to the woods whereas the male character is more reluctant to go and he is not so sure, this reveals that in our trailer the females are the stronger characters.

Film Trailer – Challenging ConventionsA further convention of horror movie trailers is creating the sense of mystery, and not giving away to the audience the storyline. My trailer follows this as it is all about creating a sense of mystery and suspense for the audience, the main way we have done this is by not showing Rosie fully, there are only flashes of her in our trailer this creates mystery as the audience want to know what is taunting them and why, this technique is used to draw people in and make them come and watch the film.