Evaluation

In what ways does my media product use,

develop or challenge forms and conventions of real

media products?

Conventions of teaser trailers• A teaser trailer, or teaser is a short trailer used to advertise an upcoming movie,

game or television series.

• Teasers, unlike typical theatrical trailers, are usually very short in length (between 30–60 seconds) and usually contain little, if any, actual footage from the film. Sometimes, it is merely a truncated version of a theatrical trailer. They are usually released long in advance of the film they advertise. One of the reasons for the name "teaser" is because they are shown usually a long time (one or one and a half years) before the movie comes out, so as to "tease" the audience.

• They are often cryptic and are used to spark curiosity about the subject.

• Teaser trailers are usually only made for big-budget and popularly themed movies. Their purpose is less to tell the audience about a movie's content than simply to let them know that the movie is coming up in the near future, and to add to the hype of the upcoming release.

• Teaser trailers are often made while the film is still in production or being edited and as a result they may feature scenes or alternate versions of scenes that are not in the finished film. Other ones have scenes made for use in the trailer only, in particular films made by Pixar.

Does my trailer challenge or follow these conventions?

• I think that the trailer for ‘Jigsaw’ mainly follows these conventions.• Firstly it is short and runs just over a minute.• The footage it contains in particular the shots of the missing posters

look like they were made just for the trailer and I would not expect them to be in the actual film. They give the viewer an idea of the theme and insight in to the story but do not involve any live action footage.

• There is also no dialogue and just music, I think this is effective in the trailer as from the music you can tell the genre of film and it gives you an idea of the atmosphere, but with the lack of dialogue it doesn’t give much away and adds to the curiosity.

• The beginning looks very much like an opening sequence and could be a short piece of film in itself, this makes it look like a shirt film prior to the main film that almost prepares and starts the story before the film, and the main feature is a continuation on from the teaser trailer. This is often conventional of a teaser trail.

Does my trailer challenge or follow these conventions? Cont’d

• Another thing that is conventional of a teaser trailer is the hidden identity of some characters, we don’t even get a clear view of the stalkers face which is often conventional of a horror trailer and a teaser trailer.

• I think the trailer is successful in following the conventions of a teaser trailer as the genre and a brief glimpse of the storyline is shown but nothing else is shown and it is made to make the viewer curious about the upcoming film.

Conventions of horror film trailers

• The best horror trailers ask a question. They set up a premise or a situation, and then leave the viewer wanting to know more.

• This can be achieved through the use of film footage, a good tag line or a good story line that makes the view want to find out more.

• With a horror film in particular it is hard to think of new exciting stories that aren’t repetitive. Trying to think of something different that hasn’t been done before that gave us a lot of options for a trailer was the hardest part of the planning process. Once we thought of a good story that we wanted to run with the planning was easier. Trying not to copy an existing story, but at the same time trying to stick to the codes and conventions of horror films.

• Another common convention is the "What happened to those kids?" question. I think this applies to the ‘Jigsaw’ teaser trailer best as that is the question you’re left thinking at the end of the trailer and the title throws up some ideas of possibilities.

Conventions of horror film trailers Cont’d

• The actual editing of horror trailers are fast paced, with quick editing and often use a lot of effects and transitions.

• They consist of some of the best parts of the film without giving anything away.

• And reach a climax towards the end that makes the viewer want to go and see the film and find out more.

Does my trailer challenge of follow these conventions?

• I think the trailer mainly follows these conventions. We are given a glimpse in to the genre and story of the film, but not too much is given away.

• We know the story is going to be about finding this girl, and discovering the identity of this stalker and why he is taking these women.

• From looking at the footage I would say that the footage in the trailer would not be in the film, or perhaps the staling part could be used as a flash back.

• A way in which it challenges the convention is I think it gives more of a story to the trailer rather than lots of different clips or a small number of clips that don’t show much.

Following Horror film ideas and conventions

Friday 13th trailer. Jigsaw Teaser Trailer

Following conventions and coming up with similar ideas to other trailers, this one in particular gives an idea of the story in a different way to

I think the jigsaw teaser trailer followed some well used conventions in the horror Genre, some examples shown;

Sleepy Hollow trailer Jigsaw teaser trailer

In quite a dark trailer we wanted the title to stand out and so put a glow behind it that moves forward as the title appears, this is similar to the title used in the sleepy hollow trailer and shows that a similar convention was followed. I think this is effective as it stands out against the rest of the trailer as it should.

Jump cutting is used and looks more like photographs, also the shots have been put in to black and white similar to a scene in the ‘Jigsaw’ trailer.

One missed call trailerhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I1F7hJNsi5M

Jigsaw teaser trailer

The Amityville horror Jigsaw teaser trailer

By basing a horror film on a true story, even if things have been adapted and dramatised for television can work well in making the film more scary and can make people want to come and see the film as it works well in making the viewer more curious and works well in a trailer to get the viewer to come and watch the film.

Music• In the ‘Jigsaw’ teaser trailer there is no dialogue and just atmospheric music

and sound effects.• I think that this is effective as it adds to the mystery of the film and doesn’t

give anything away, as the teaser trailer is only there to ‘tease’ the viewer and make them want to find out more about the film.

• The music used in the opening sequence of the trailer fades up with the opening shot as it introduces us to our main character. This music is effective as it fits in with the pace of the trailer but also acts as a clear indication of the genre of the film. It fits well as the music picks up when the pace of the film footage picks up.

• When the sequence changes, rather than try to continue the existing music which would not have fitted at that point, or picked a faster song which would not have transited well, there are sound effects instead, a heart beat is used which adds to the tension of the sequence and the panic is apparent as the heartbeat is fast, this is more effective than having another piece of music.

• There is then a high pitched continuous noise as the camera pans across the missing signs and newspaper articles. A similar sound effect is also used when the film title is shown. This draws attention to the title and should make it stick in the viewers head.

Editing• The editing fits the conventions of horror film. • The editing is fast paced and fits in with the music.• Due to audience feedback, the length of the trailer was cut down

dramatically and this then allowed us to put more transitions in to the trailer and use more effects as they helped to move the trailer on faster.

• The effects used were dip to colour dissolve, this blacked the screen out and allowed us to do a fade up to a shot and introduced the characters and opened it quite well.

• The other transition that was used was a cross fade, by making it much shorter and changing the colour to white it made flashes, this worked well as it allows us to cut between two different shots and they fit together well.

• Another effect that we used was jump cutting, we used this during the approach of the killer and when the camera zooms in towards the missing girl poster at the end. This allowed the trailer to move along quicker but, following a typical horror film convention it means that we do not see the face of the killer.

• As the trailer develops the editing gets faster and this fits in well with the music.

Conventions of a horror film poster

• There are general conventions for a film poster.• A striking image and a title that stands out.• You should be able to tell the genre of the film by the

poster.• For a horror film the posters are conventionally dark, with

a striking image that is relevant to the story in the film. This is perhaps the most important thing as the poster has to fit in well.

• In order for the film poster to ‘Jigsaw’ to fit in well the conventions for an effective horror film poster needed to be followed and it was important not to give too much away so we decided to go for more of a teaser poster instead.

Does my poster fit or challenge these conventions?

• I think that the poster for ‘Jigsaw’ fits in with that conventions, but I think it also looks like it could be the poster for a thriller.

• I think it follows the conventions as it is a dark, black and white image set against a dark background.

• This then adds to the effect of the title as it is white, contrasting against the black and the drop shadow and outer glow makes it stand out from the page and as it appears to glow and catches your eye well.

• The image is quite striking as it is quite weird and different and you have to look at it for a while to try and work out what it is and this adds to the curiosity bought about by the film, making people to want to see it and find out what it is about.

• It follows a definite colour scheme of black, white and red. • Because the font is in red in the bottom that also helps it to stand out. • This fits in nicely with the trailer as it is the same girl on the front and

the two can be immediately linked.• The tagline also appears in both the pieces.

Conventions of a film magazine cover

• The aim of the front cover of a magazine is to advertise what is in the magazine but also to attract the consumers attention.

• The conventions of a magazine cover are,• An eye catching image usually relevant to the

main story in the magazine.• To have a bold title to go with that story.• Have a good relevant name for the magazine. • They often have other images on the front and

will have other titles of stories and features on the inside.

Does my magazine cover challenge or follow these conventions?

• The ‘Jigsaw’ cover for total film magazine fits with the conventions of a typical movie magazine cover.

• However it has a picture of the actor on it rather than of the character, this is because for a horror film they can not have any graphic images on it that would fit with the horror film.

• There is a deffinate colour scheme of red, black and gold.

• And the image takes up most of the front cover.• The title ties in with the film.• There are also lots of other stories advertised on the

front.