Evaluation Question 1.

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

SHATTERED 2014 THE OFFICIAL TRAILER

Moving image

My individual research into horror films contributed to the production of the images in the trailer which used unconventional camera angles. I viewed films such as The Shining which inspired elements of the trailer because I found that the use of strong camera angles and positions were very memorable and impactful. Our over the shoulder shot of Jordan playing the character of Lucas and Tessa playing the character of Sophie is similar to shots used in horror films yet is isn't often in trailers. The bird’s eye view shot of Jack who plays Matt challenges the conventions of most horror trailers and we used it guarantee that the audience was impacted by it. The imagery places the audience in the position of the ghost which is unusual for a trailer as it involves them without them knowing what has happened to him. This is effective because it makes the viewer question who’s point of view shot the scene is shot from. The high angle shot at the end of our trailer is conventional as it is used in many trailer products. Nonetheless in films such as paranormal activity scenes similar to the one we have created (of Matt being dragged downstairs by the ghost) are not used in trailers, only events prior or leading up to are shown this implies to the audience there is more horror to come.

Paranormal activity SHATTERED

Soundtrack

0 Originally we intended on using a soundtrack which featured the use of string because this is a convention we were aware of that was prevalent within the horror genre. Although the trailers I have watched and our group research which we combined found that there were many trailers challenging this convention. Trailers such as ‘Insidious 2’ composed a much more haunting soundtrack with the use of sound effects becoming repetitive and they changed in volume etc. as the situations changed. Our soundtrack develops the convention of using a soundtrack with a slow pace and moments of change in the tone by using a single soundtrack. The piano in our soundtrack plays a repetitive sequence as we establish the plot and backstory and as the ghost is revealed the soundtrack the volume gets louder.

Dialogue

0 In horror trailers it has become cliché to present a child chanting or a character narrating the trailer with a rhyme. In the trailer for SHATTERED it was vital that we established the student character personalities and to do this we used dialogue that could be spoken through real students. The line ‘just leave it’ which is delivered in an agitated tone it effective and uses the convention of characters in horror who become irritated by the mentioning of horror. On the other hand Lucas is revealing the synopsis through the medium of an ordinary conversation. This works well as gives the suitable impression of the film as they are typical student. Whereas in the trailer for ‘The Woman in Black’ the dialogue spoken by a child ‘A bone trembling chill that tells you, she’s there’ is the method used to establish the plot.

Character development0 I believe with regards to character development we have challenged many

conventions. The character of Matt is portrayed as weak and vulnerable, his interest in the what Katie is keeping secret ‘it doesn’t make any sense’, can be interpreted by our audience as an indication of his fear. Stereotypically in horrors the female character is portrayed as frightened and at times is perceived by others as paranoid. For example in the trailer for ‘The conjuring’ the female character hears something which no one else can and the character of Katie in paranormal activity is seen as irrational for taking the events seriously because she is the only one who truly believes something is wrong. Even so there are ways we have used conventions from horror trailers. Sophie is later the female character is unwilling to believe that there is no ghost or horror occurring. Nevertheless the dialogue we used ‘I know he’s not’ portrays her as strong because she understands the seriousness of events.

Narrative

0 In relation to the narrative the trailer follows and develops many conventions. The opening of the trailer is used to establish the story and as the trailer progresses the focus shifts from the plot to the haunting and the characters fear. In the trailer oculus the trailer begins by disclosing the main codes of enigma to interest the audience. Then the pace changes and the shots become shorter and more horrific. The intertitles contribute to developing the narrative and when along with the soundtrack it develops suspense. The trailer become more intense and the intertitles explain what follows. The intertitles ‘what is real’ is followed by a scene where the two main character are looking at themselves stood inside a house whilst they are stood looking through the window outside. The reason we used the intertitle ‘you won’t see her coming’ after Matt exclaims ‘Just leave it!’ because it interests the audience as they want to keep watching to know who the intertitles refer to. As it is conventional to use intertitles to establish the genre ‘mystery’ etc. ours confirms that the film is supernatural as it suggest the presence of an unknown entity.

Transitions and more editing

0 Knowing it was conventional to use fade to black transition in horror trailers when editing the trailer I considered featuring many fades to black between scenes. I inserted the fade to white transition between the modern day and the flashback scene to highlight the change in time. We used fade to black transitions between scenes and intertitles to improve the variability of the trailer; even so we didn’t follow the convention entirely because we took more of an influence from the trailer for ‘The Woman in Black’. The fast cutting technique used in films such as ‘Shaun of the Dead’ could be regarded as the same cutting technique used in horror trailers as several consecutive scenes of horrific and terrifying events are edited to suggest there is no escape from the horror because it is constant. The reason for using no transitions between some of the horror scenes was because it connects them all together and allows the horror to build in intensity.

Magazine

Main image

When producing the front cover of a film magazine the photos are taken in a different location to where the film is set. This is a sensible way of producing images as the scenery is less chaotic and it won’t spoil the film for the audience. In June of 2013 and September of the same year the issues of Empire that were published featured comic book hero’s of the front cover. For the promotional image of ‘The man of steel’ the character of superman in placed in a scene of ruin with the town name Smallville clear in the background. For my magazine I wanted a background which also showed something about the story or the character. The tree symbolises the family which Catherine is part of and haunts after death.

For the main image I have portrayed myself as the character of Catherine. This is conventional for most movie magazine’s especially Empire. I felt that the most effective way of promoting a horror wouldn’t be through the actors who star in it. Horror films market to a smaller audience than most genres and because of this the focus must always be on how fearsome the film is. By showing the character of Catherine on the front cover it attracts horror fans because the most important element of the film is horror not profit.

Cover lines

0 Most coverlines are written in one font and the colours change. I have developed this convention by using the different fonts on each individual coverline. The coverlines for FN Popcorn differ from those of the entertainment magazine when covering the film Scream 4. Often they use short coverlines to grab the readers attention. I decided to extend coverlines by specifying what the articles are written about. I thought this would be appreciated by my target audience more because they can find out quickly what the magazine has which they are interested in. This way the coverlines could be the film titles rather than actors names or ‘2011 reviews’ etc.

Layout

0 The layout is comparable with other film magazines such as total film. Some issues of popular magazines change there layout to attract new audiences. The issue of Entertainment with the character from Sweeny Todd which I have studied is an example of this and I thought it was necessary to challenge some conventions of layout. Commonly a flash is used on the magazines front cover to advertise something that is exclusive to the brand. This year Empire has used a flash on it’s masthead to advertise it’s 25th anniversary issues and also they have used other flashes to show the articles they dedicate to the readers. I intended to use a flash as it was conventional and it attracts attention as it presents some of the magazines content as unique. The polaroid frame combines the use of subsidiary images and a flash and makes the magazine stand out from others such as total film and Empire.

Colour and style

0 I have used a conventional style and colour scheme because I think for a horror issue red should be prominent. Although I didn’t want to detract attention from the brand so the most obvious colour scheme is blue and black, this dark scheme emphasizes the horror special without preventing the audience from remembering the black logo. Traditionally Empire uses a red bold font for the masthead as this makes it more noticeable than the coverlines. In terms of style the magazine cover is very much unconventional because it appears less modern than recent magazine publications.

Brand and presentation0 I chose the brand name Friday Night Popcorn for my

magazine because it can encourage people to watch more films and become more knowledgeable on the history of cinema. My desire was to construct a magazine that could appeal to anyone regardless of the affection of film. The magazine’s objective is to support the film industry and show an understanding of the importance of all films, mainstream, independent or other. The name of course is too long and isn’t as memorable as Empire, in response I have abbreviated the name to FN Popcorn. I discovered no film magazines with the similar framed logos. The only magazine which has this for it’s logo is Q, a music magazine. This is challenging the convention because it is preferred by the print industry to have a masthead which extends across the top of the page. By challenging this convention the magazine could attract an audience who aren’t regular subscribers or readers of other film magazines.

Poster

Main image0 My poster advertising SHATTERED challenges many conventions which is

recognizable when compared with the posters shown below. Whilst in most horror posters the character is shown in a dramatic close-up looking directly at the camera or screaming figuratively in the face of the target audience. In my poster I have shown the character of Katie from the side purposely not creating the same connection between the character and the audience as is created by most horror posters. By posing in the position the character of Katie has it could gain sympathy from the audience because she is surrounded by horror and doing nothing to fight it because she isn’t yet aware of it. The majority of horror posters which I have seen show a female character as the victim of the films plot. I have conformed to this convention but have opposed the stereotype. Female characters on horrors are portrayed as weak and vulnerable whereas for my main image there is there implication that Katie is in control of the ghost without knowing and the shadow could be a reflection of what she is becoming.

TaglineI would argue that the convention of the posters tag line is keep it relevant to the plot. I have used a tagline which has a code of enigma for the audience, involves them and is relevant to the plot. The tag line below was used to advertise the film ‘the others’ and the use of the pronoun ‘YOU’ leads to the audience questioning who the tagline is directed towards. ‘THEY’ will inevitably persuade the target market to watch the film to find out who ‘THEY’ are. I have done the same with my tag line using the determiner ‘YOUR’ and the pronoun ‘HER’. It applies to the plot of SHATTERED because Catherine history of murder could become Katie’s or Katie could become a victim of Catherine’s terrible acts. I have used a white font to contrast with the orange and red colours.

Layout

0 The layout is uses conventional presenting techniques. I have left the space around the shadow of the knife empty in order to make it appear more dangerous. I have positioned the title low down on the poster whilst I originally had it at the top of the poster. I have placed it just about the billing block because it is where the attention is drawn to due to the image. As Katie is lower than the shadow on the poster people will look at Katie separately and when remembering the image they should remember the title as a part of the image. I have placed the website address for SHATTERED beneath the billing block where it is on most horror posters. It allows our target audience to develop their own interest in the film. Also having the web address on the poster attracts the target audience of 16-25 year olds because they use the internet and technology frequently.

Billing Block etc.

0 For the SHATTERED poster I challenged the conventions by using social networking site logos and changing their appearance. From my research I hadn’t found any horror posters using social media logos. This is why in my second draft there were no social networking logos. I was concerned that using these logos would spoil the horror image. It can effect the realism of the film. When considering the target audience and the characters in the trailer I realised it would be beneficial to use these logos because the majority of them will use a social networking account and desire the opportunity to use their accounts to feedback on the films and trailers they have seen. The blood on the Facebook logo and Twitter logo involves the horror genre in the modern day which is what we have done in our film by portraying modern day students being haunted in a supernatural film (which would normally take place during a time unlike the modern era).

Conclusion

I took influence from many trailers, magazine covers and posters and using the plot developed the conventions within them to appeal to our target audience. Paranormal activity is a trailer we watched as a group to inspire our storyboard. I used representation for my poster and drafted many different ideas before producing them on InDesign. Promotional products of horror films have their own unique style or image nonetheless they have followed conventions. This is what I have aimed for with the production of the trailer, my poster and my magazine cover.