In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge

forms and conventions of reals media products?

For our A2 Media Studies coursework we had to create a Film trailer and create 2 ancillary texts, we did a film poster and a magazine cover. Me and Erza chose to create a thriller film, so we had regular discussions to develop our ideas into a feasible and interesting plot, which we could then create a trailer for.

As we had worked on Thriller opening sequences last year at AS, we were very clear of the codes and conventions that would be found within a thriller film, which include - Create a sense of enigma/ suspense- Contain some fast paced action (depending on the sub-genre of the film)- Tension is built up throughout the film- There will be scenes that thrill the audience - Fast paced editing- The protagonist is male, ( But we challenged this last year with gender roll reversal and representing a strong female character lead with the head police officer.)

Whilst coming up with a story line we researched and looked at similar films trailers of the same genre, I would also look at the codes and conventions of a Sci-fi thriller, as this was the sub-genre of our film. Codes and conventions of sci-fi thrillers include: - One of the main characters Vs something/Someone, they use binary oppositions with the characters. For example Taken and I Am Legend- A sense of danger and enigma- Dark settings- Danger and Chaos.

We noticed that Sci-fi Film storylines cater to the audience and their interests, they use realistic storylines that could in real life actually happen. In this instance we used the government with conspiracies and a storyline of the population becoming to high and exceeding country limits, e.g. housing issues social breakdown, food riots. The audience are already aware about these things and it creates a question around the storyline becoming alive and happening to them, I think films like this engage the audience and keep them watching,

our first and second drafts of our trailer were too vague and did not establish any kind of narrative whatsoever. It took us a while to realise, and after some audience feedback, we took a step back from the production and watched it through the eyes of the audience.

We left our trailer on a cliff hanger, creating the greatest sense of enigma possible. We used Roland Barthes Codes Theory The only way that the audience would be able to find out the resolution to this enigma would now be to go and watch the film itself. Many film trailers (especially teaser trailers) present the audience with a sense of enigma, then leave the audience with a cliff hanger. Cliff hangers are one of the most effective ways of making an audience member wanting to go and see a film. This was the case with the I am Legend teaser trailer. The audience is presented with a sense of danger, where the main character is isolated in low key lighting. It is then eluded that he is attacked by something, but before the audience can figure out what is going on, the shot cuts to the title. This is the very same structure our trailer follows

The final draft of our trailer took 2 drafts prior to it, we got a lot of audience feedback to help us make the trailer more appealing to the audience. But before all this could happen, each of our group members had to do some research into teaser trailers, so we knew what our trailer should look like. We established that: - We should not show the whole storyline, a trailer is only meant to whet the audience’s appetite and not make them feel like they know the whole story already.- Include many different quick shots in the shortest space of time as possible, whilst still making the viewer want to see the film.- Establish some kind of comprehendible narrative.- Include information about actors/ actresses, the distribution and production companies.- Leave the viewer wanting to see more, and we did this by having the shot at the end of a

character coming back to life.

Including some kind of fast paced action because that what thriller films do In most Thriller trailers, there is a presence of some kind of action, be this: a car chase, running or a fight. Upon looking at the first draft of our trailer, we found there to be no action whatsoever. It is not necessarily a requirement for there to be action, but it is a good indicator of genre. So when we met as a group to discuss our options we felt it would be a good idea to include some kind of action. We chose to make it subtle and include a dramatic scene that alluded to the idea of a fight.

In this scene, the character punches another character whilst the trailer begins to pick up speed and pace. This added drama to the narrative, but alluded to the idea that there was going to be some kind of conflict between these two characters. The viewer questions what is going to happen next. So it also creates a sense of enigma for the audience.

Using the connotation of Tension to built up throughout the trailer: A typical device used within trailers to build up the tension is the use of different editing speeds. Typically, a trailer will begin with slow shots that establish the storyline, develop character and introduce the themes within the film. By the time you have reached the end of the trailer, there will be many quick cuts (that can range from half a second to 3 seconds) that build up the tension. These build up tension as the audience may not understand why certain shots have been included and this could lead to confusion, they may also feel overwhelmed by the amount of scenes and actions that are being thrown at them in such a short space of time. We used this technique of varying editing speeds within our trailer, at the end of the trailer, we have one long scene at the end to make sure the audience establish the narrative and to also add enigma codes so that it’s the last thing the audience remember about the trailer. (One the main character’s talking on a stand about the population and the future. But we also cut up the clip and added it through out so it acts like a narrator. It would have been very boring to have just this shot in the trailer. So instead, whilst I was editing, I incorporated about 5 or 6 shots that were related to the storyline, each of these shots was about 1 or 2 seconds long. Coupled with the music that was reaching its crescendo, I was able to transform an originally boring scene into a scene that becomes the crucial point of tension within the trailer.

We decided to create a clear juxtaposition between the character to increase the tension between the characters. It is very clear that there is a huge difference in personalities, the friend seems to be more outgoing and dresses in a more glamorous manner. Whereas the character of Alex doesn’t care much for her appearance and spends a lot of the trailer alone. It is clear then that these characters are two complete opposites, and a perceptive audience would be able to guess that there is going to be some tension. Having two female lead actresses would reach out more to the potential female audience, often when a male is the protagonist it will attract more male audience members as they can relate to the characters (and in some cases imagine that they themselves are the lead actor). By using female actresses we have potentially done the same thing, female teenagers feel that they will be able to relate to the characters and may therefore watch the film. Opening up to a whole new demographic of target audience. In this case, we have challenged the typical conventions of a thriller film, as we have chosen to use a female as the protagonist, rather than a male. We did this intentionally to make the film open up to a new demographic, as well as standing out from all the other thriller releases.

Intertitles Our media product uses the codes and the conventions of Sci-fi thriller films as the intertitle font is futuristic, bold and metallic. After research displayed on the haverstockmedia blog we found our own font similar which matches the same qualities found in film trailers like I am legend, inception, divergent and the maze runner. The font suggests to the audience what the film is about because of all the connotations of the genre fitting the narrative and theme of the trailer, We aslo noticed that film trailers spilt up their sentences to keep the audience on edge. By doing this I think that we are keeping the audience engagded with the trailer.

However with feedback we made the intertitles much better and we had to make sure that the audience could still remember what the last intertitle said so they don’t forget what the sentence was

Overall, I feel our teaser trailer was successful in selling our storyline, especially when compared to the first and second drafts we produced. We mainly developed codes and conventions of real media products in order to make ours look like a real media product, but we also developed our characters from characters that have been in other real media products. We did challenge a few of the codes and conventions, but we did this with purpose. For example the Female scientists, not showing any love interest as we thought would confuse the audience with the storyline. Although the first storyline was with a kidnapping element. We also stuck within the time constraints of a teaser trailer, typically, a teaser trailer is anywhere between 30 seconds to 2 minutes 30 seconds. All in all, I feel we worked very well in order to produce something that was true to other media products. We focused very carefully on character, locations and props and used other real media products to help us with this.