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

challenge forms and conventions of real media

products?

Inspiration and conventions.• When creating our media project we

used many different films and media texts to base our ideas on. We tried to keep the conventions of a horror film when thinking about the music and the location that we set our film.

• When looking at location in the horror genre, our characters are usually casted in an isolated location, such as the woods or a castle, not usually a place we are familiar with.

• When we choose the woods as the location, we watched films with that location in mind. The film “the Blaire Witch Project” was a huge inspiration with the film using the locations as a strength, as its against the familiarity of what the viewer is used to.

Against The Conventions.

• To challenge the conventions of a usual horror films we presented our trailer with the threat being a female.

• Using a female as our lead threat in the film we are apposing the usual stereotype that a male holds the power in the film. The stereotype of horror films with a usual damsel in distress is flipped so that the only people that we see in danger in our trailer are men.

• Another quality that we implemented when having our film in mind, is the time of day in which we filmed our trailer. The broad daylight is Juxtaposed against the woodland isolation and the themes of the film.

Ambiguity. • Throughout the trailer we tried to keep

the structure of the trailer open ended leaving the audience with ambiguity, wondering what would happens In the film.

• We kept to the key conventions of a horror film, with the setting, tense music, and the pace of the trailer so that the viewer has a clear idea of the genre of the trailer. However we have not been straightforward with our structure.

• We have a clear pace to the trailer with a slow start, building into a tension filled ending, still keeping the structure and plot unexplained for the viewer to wonder and to find out on their own.

The sound.• Picking a track to play over the trailer

was very important as it placed the pace for the trailer creating the speed and pace of the trailer that we were looking for.

• we needed to choose a piece that would start of slow and build as the trailer would go on. we copied the start of the song at the end of the track so we could create a calmness in the trailer whilst the credits appear.

• The music created the speed of the trailer and also helped me to choose where to place the clips within the trailer and helped me to edit the piece, speeding up and slowing down the pace of the clip.

Poster/Magazine.• When creating the poster and

magazine we choose an image that would strike the audience, possible creating a sense of familiarity in the audience with other posters and images.

• Our image plays a lot off the back of the idea of torture porn, holding strong themes and links to the poster and marketing of the Hostel films, holding the conventions of blood stains and tied up bodies.

• The poster needed the conventions of a horror poster, so we used photo-shop to place blood into the scene and the feel for the picture turned completely, placing a sinister feel into the scene.

Binary opposites.• We try to get across in the short trailer

the idea of binary opposites. Levi Strauss idea of binary opposites creates conflict with our characters and the plot of the trailer.

• We used the location of the woods to represent nature, this apposes the human element within the film. Creating the opposites of Man vs. Nature.

• Also by making the apposing character in the trailer a female we are bringing the binary opposites of Man vs. Woman, using this technique could even raise a response from the audience where genders may be split against each other in wanting certain characters to survive.

Levi Strauss – Philosopher

Cinematography• When filming our trailer we tried to find a

lot of natural camera shots. By using this technique of placing the camera within the tress or in the center of a path it created the illusion that the viewer is there with the characters within the trailer.

• We used a lot of natural light, setting up the characters so that the sunlight is behind them. This shot create the idea that the character is blocking the sunlight. This suggests to the audience that there is an obstacle blocking our characters from reaching the peacefulness of the light.

• We also filmed a lot of our trailer using the first person view from the camera. This was always from the perspective of the threat though. This would create a sense of discomfort within the audience.

Conclusion• Throughout the production we have wanted

to stay on the tracks of a horror trailer by keeping the conventions of horror trailer that we have seen and researched ourselves.

• The main factors we found was the location, the sound and the intrusive cinematography. With all of these factors we believe that we have created an effective trailer that leaves the viewer with enough ambiguity within the plot to make them want to know what happens within the film. With the production of the trailer and magazine cover, we have edited them so that it is clear that this is trying to promote a horror themed film.

• If we were to create the horror genre project again I think we would have done more with sound within the trailer, this could be from creating more of a sense of narration or even have sound effects within the trailer.