1) In what ways does your media product use, develop

or challenge forms and conventions or real media

products?

Trailer forThorns

Definitions

Terms associated with social realism

Depression

Economic struggle

Social issues such as Racism

Real lives - Death and Loss

Through previous research I was able to determine the conventions of social realism…

From these definitions I was able to determine what the conventional ideas behind social realism are . I decided I would focus on loss and Pain. I adopted these conventional themes as then I could class my trailer under the genre of social realism.

These definitions helped me to establish which props would be suitable for my trailer. If I wanted to portray these conventional themes of social realist films then I needed to make sure props used were suitable. I wanted to stick to conventionally portraying these themes such as depression with conventional items associated with them. These included the use of drugs and alcohol.

“This Is England” “This Is England” was an important inspiration when making my Trailer.The gritty film explored many issues

typically associate with Social realism. Having seen the most recent tv series spin off as well as the film , I was able to clearly

see the conventional features used and could then take them forward when

making my own trailer.

The program deals with conventional issues of society such as loss. I was able to adopt this conventional feature in my own trailer. I wanted this to be the priority, so this theme became the main feature of the plot. In previous research I found a particular shot from ‘This is England’ that inspired many of my own camera angles. The extreme close ups portrayed the conventional themes of social realism as they showed the intense emotion of for example pain and loss. I used this within my own trailer to show my main characters emotional turmoil and I feel this conventional feature helped to portray my main theme.

Start of TrailerOne of the most important parts of the trailer is how it starts. Conventional ways of starting a trailer portray the age restriction title page to appear first. I found this through previous research and decided I would use this conventional feature. I wanted to use this conventional feature as I feel it establishes the type of audience the trailer is suitable for and therefore will appeal to.

Conventionally , through my research, I found that the Ident of the film also appears at the start. I wanted to again use this conventional feature as I felt it worked best at the start and was able to give the audience a feel whether for example it was an independent film company etc. I produced my own Ident and therefore placed it at the start of my trailer. I also placed my Ident at the start due to my idea of ending my trailer in a more dramatic way.

End of TrailerThe conventional way to end a trailer is to feature credits. Through my research I was able to observe this. I wanted to use this conventional feature as I wanted to feature extra information about my trailer such as the companies involved. When researching into trailers I found the social realist trailer for Fish Tank. I noticed that the title sequence reflected the actual title of the film. This was done by making the words themselves appear to be underwater. I picked up on this technique. I therefore created my last title page with thorns on. This therefore reflected the title of the film and so used this feature. Another conventional feature I noticed at the end of Trailers, is the date in which the film will be released. I wanted to feature this because this will enable the viewers to know when they can expect it.

MUSIC Social realist trailers conventionally feature slow tempo, minor pieces of music. I found that when analysing trailers, the music would reflect the main theme of the storyline. I observed this especially in ‘Fish Tank’. The music would reflect the aggressive atmosphere that would in turn build up tension. This therefore reflected the main theme within the film.

I wanted to adopt this conventional feature and use it in my own trailer. Choosing the piece of music was very important as I wanted the dramatic atmosphere to be portrayed clearly. I used this conventional feature by picking two dramatic songs that reflected the chaos within my trailer.

Challenging conventions

MUSIC…Conventionally a trailer’s music changes when the atmosphere in the trailer changes. I found through research into trailers that the music usually becomes either faster or slower as the tempo of the trailer changes. This is present in the trailer for ‘Fish Tank’ . The music changes as the atmosphere takes a more serious and sad turn. This is a conventional feature that I decided to challenge. I did not want my trailer to have such a smooth transition present in it. I still used two different pieces of music that were by the same artist but did not make the change between the two when the atmosphere changed. My trailer starts off as having an ambiguous, edgy tone and this changes on to a more dramatic and chaotic one. This is when the music changes. However conventionally, the music would change when the tone changes to a more hopeful and a completely different atmosphere is portrayed. I decided to use a mirror smash to break up the flow of my trailer. This challenges the conventional flow of trailers and smooth transitions. This is enhanced by the same piece of music coming back in. I feel this creates an uneasy feel to my trailer which I initially wanted to create.

An establishing shot proved to be a regular conventional feature used in a trailer (which I found out through previous research) . The particular shot was often used at the start of the trailer to enable the audience to establish where this film’s set. I wanted to use this feature at the start of my own trailer to achieve this effect. However I feel I developed this conventional feature by being far more ambiguous. Taking ‘Fish Tank’ as my inspiration, the start of the trailer features a tower block. As I pointed out through my analysis , this told a lot through just a very short clip. I wanted to have an establishing shot that the audience would have to think about more. My pan of the hill tells them where the sequence is set but does not give away too much about the meaning of this place. I wanted to leave a lot up to the audience themselves.

Thorns Fish Tank

Reviews

Another conventional feature of a trailer I found was the occurrence of reviews. In order to make the trailer seem more appealing , trailers would use reviews by for example film magazines, to give a good impression out. I wanted to use this conventional feature because I felt that not only would it help relate my trailer to my film magazine , but it would portray that this film is considered good. The layout I had my reviews set out in is also a conventional style. The review is often placed above the name of the media source which is usually in a smaller font. I feel this gave my trailer also a more professional look.

Title pages are another conventional feature of Trailers that I used. When looking at trailers I saw that in order to give the audience a better idea about the storyline, it was necessary to have extra information on some shots. I feel by using this conventional feature I was able to help portray my storyline as well as maintaining a sense of ambiguity due to the small number used.

To introduce the characters (main) within a film , the names conventionally appear by the characters face. I wanted to use this conventional feature in order to achieve this. I felt that the trailer was more appealing because the audience would be able to see who exactly is in the film. This also adds a more professional look .

Dialogue is also conventionally used in most trailers. I only wanted a small amount of dialogue because I did not want too much of my plot to be revealed. I feel the amount of dialogue used was appropriate and although conventionally more would feature, I feel by challenging this I have created a more ambiguous atmosphere.

Conventionally the title of the film is displayed in an eye-catching way. I wanted to use this conventional feature to make sure people remembered the title of this film. I noticed through research that the Title of the film usually appears at the end of a trailer and is large, bold and easy to see. I therefore made sure that my title was appealing and would stick in my viewers mind. I made it large and bold and placed it at the end of my trailer so it would be fresh in my audience's mind when they had finished watching.