In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

Evaluation Question One

In order to show how our media product uses, develops and challenges forms and conventions of real media products, I have taken frames from our own trailer and compared them with frames from real trailers to compare how we have used or challenged forms and conventions of both typical film trailers and typical horror conventions.

Introduction

By having a short clip of the title of the film at the end of the trailer, it not only highlights the name of the film being advertised to the audience but it is also a typical convention you would expect to see in a film trailer. I have displayed the title we used in our own trailer 'Off Campus' with a title from 'Jeepers Creepers' as they both have a similar font which consists of the letters being cracked and broken away slightly which is a conventional font you would expect to see in a horror trailer.

Title Pages

Monster/Killer

Often seen in horror trailers is a short clip of the monster/killer, normally a close up or a long shot. This establishes to the audience who the villain is whilst also briefly showing what they look like without giving too much away but at the same time scaring the audience enough to persuade them that this is a good horror trailer to go ahead and watch in full at the cinema. When planning our trailer we decided that a mask would make our killer to appear more scary so that our audience were shocked/scared when footage of him was shown.

Off Campus Trailer

Freddy vs. Jason Trailer

Lighting

Off Campus Trailer

The Crazies Trailer

I have compared these two shots together as I believe that are both effective in terms of the lighting that has been used. The low-key lighting in both shots is placed at the top centre of the image with the characters looking up at the light. This I believe works well as an effective horror convention shot as it gives a sense to the audience that there is something paranormal or scary about to happen. The lighting also creates a high contrast within the rest of the shot as the lighting brightens the centre of the shot whilst the rest remains in darkness which I believe in an effective shot seen in horror trailers.

By having a title after a bit of footage, it divides the trailer up to tell a bit of the narrative as well as show clips from the film. The purpose of the titles is to build suspense at the beginning of a trailer which leads up to a faster paced ending. We included titles within our own horror trailer as they explained very briefly part of the narrative whilst also slowly building up the tension whilst the editing was still slow-paced before it reaches the faster editing clip towards the end of the trailer. These titles are also conventional of a any film trailer as they are used to divide up sections of footage and make the trailer more interesting to watch which is why we needed to include them within our trailer.

Intertitles

Off Campus Trailer

Sorority Row Trailer

Establishing Shot/ Car

I have compared this shot taken from our own trailer with a shot taken from ‘Jeepers Creepers’ as both of these shots not only contain a car but establish the overall setting within the scene. Both shots have been taken during the day which we can tell by the use of natural lighting. Also, by focusing on the car, it gives the audience a basic idea as to what the narrative is so far, for example in our own shot the characters are arriving and moving into their new house as the car pulling into the driveway symbolizes a journey is about to begin but because its horror the audience will know this is where the danger will happen.

Off Campus Trailer

Jeepers Creepers Trailer

Extreme Close Ups

The use of close ups were really important to try and include within our horror trailer as close up shots are a really effective way to help achieve the ‘scariness’ within horror trailers as they act well for jumpy clips of footage and also help the audience to closely identify themselves with a particular character. This clip of an extreme close up of an eye is taken from our own trailer which I have chosen to compare from a clip taken from ‘Final Destination 5’. A close up of an eye is an effective shot within a horror trailer as it draws the audience into the characters eyes. Eyes are also an element seen in horror that a lot of people are scared by so therefore this shot works as a convention of horror.

Off Campus Trailer

Final Destination 5 Trailer

Pitchfork/Low Angle Shot

In one of our scenes from our horror trailer we decided to have a pitchfork as one of our props in which would be used as one of the murder weapons seen in our trailer. A pitchfork is seen as a very brutal and gory weapon to use so therefore this worked well for one of our gory scenes within the trailer. By filming the action with a low angle shot, it puts the audience into the victims eyes so it appears as if they are the ones who are about to be killed which is why it therefore works as a really effective shot within our trailer. I have compared our own shot with a shot taken from a horror film ‘The Crazies’ as the context of both images is very similar and both are effective shots.

Off Campus Trailer

The Crazies Trailer

I have compared these two images as they are very similar in terms of the context of the shot as in both scenes a female is seen hiding behind something, looking over her shoulder. Although the shot I have chosen to compare with is used for the film poster of the thriller ‘Eden Lake’ it does however connote the vulnerability of a woman in a horror film as they are often seen as very vulnerable and the most likely to be killed. However, both of these characters have ‘Final Girl’ features as they are attempting to fight and survive which is why we chose to include this shot in our horror trailer. The final girl is an interesting notion as it is an unusual representation not often seen in many films so therefore the idea of the ‘final girl’ challenges typical gender stereotypes. I also like this shot due to the z axis which is created as both girls are in the foreground of the shot which then leads the audiences eyes further into the background of the shot. The background of the shot taken from our trailer is also really effective with the use of low-key high contrast lighting that is created by the light above the door.

Over the Shoulder/ Z Axis

Off Campus Trailer

Eden Lake Film Poster

By including shots of newspapers clippings within our horror trailer it enables some of the background story to be shown so that our audience can connect with the narrative of our trailer and have an understanding as to what has happened. Shots of newspaper clippings also connote ‘The Return of the Repressed’ meaning something coming back from the past which is what I believe makes our horror trailer more scary as it is about something from the past haunting the house and the people in it. Although the image I have compared our shot with is a photograph, it still connotes the past as both clippings have aged in colour or damaged which all suggest something being brought up from the past. Old torn newspapers/photographs are conventional props within horror as they suggest that there is something paranormal happening and work as an effective element to include within a horror trailer.

Newspaper Clippings

Off Campus Trailer

Paranormal Activity 3 Trailer

At the end of our horror trailer, we decided to include a jumpy scene in order to make it an effective trailer that would scare our audience. We chose to show a girl about to drive off who then gets strangled by the killer who emerges from the back of the car. A very similar and effective shot is seen in the film ‘Halloween’ where the character Annie is strangled and killed by the villain Mike Myers who as well emerges from the back of the car. This we believe was a very effective element of our trailer as it made a jumpy point that scared our audience as well as gave us the chance to relate our trailer closely with other real horror film trailers.

Jumpy Scene

Off Campus Trailer

Halloween Trailer

Throughout the planning process of our trailer, there were certain conventions of horror that we wanted to include within our own trailer. Common conventions of horror that we wanted to include were things such as: Newspaper Clippings, a scene that would make our audience jump, a final girl and some gory scenes. These conventions were important for us to include in order for us to make an effective horror trailer as they are typical conventions that are used in a lot of horror trailers.

As well as the importance of including horror conventions within our trailer, we also needed to include typical conventions of a film trailer. These included conventions such as intertitles to divide up our footage as well as a range of different camera angles and shots to make our trailer visually interesting to look at, not only as an effective horror trailer but also as a well put together film trailer.

Conclusion