IN WHAT WAYS DOES YOUR MEDIA

PRODUCT USE, DEVELOP, OR CHALLENGE

FORMS AND CONVENTIONS OF REAL
MEDIA PRODUCTS? (AT LEAST 9X STILL
SHOTS ANALYSED)
Posters CODES AND CONVENTIONS OF
TRAILERS/MAGAZINES/POSTER
For the creation of my coursework I first started with establishing the codes
and conventions of the horror genre in general as that is the genre of film I
was creating so therefore each the poster, magazine and trailer would have to
include the codes and conventions of the genre so it is obvious to the target
audience that this is the message I was putting across. Typical codes and
conventions of the genre include :

Settings include secluded locations

Darkness

Trailers Loud mysterious noises

False scares usually done through soundtrack

Storms

Blood or red and black colouring connoting death and blood

Places with dark history

Handheld shots

Magazines Close-ups and extreme close ups

The victims and the threat

Insanity

Supernatural

Etc.
Equilibrium swan connotes grace and
beauty which contrasts any themes in
almost all horror films
Disruption of the equilibrium use of phone and
texting reflects 21st century fears of technology
Dominantly black Mise-en-scene
Bbfc rating in red- horror genre and a
15 rated film
MY MEDIA PRODUCT USES CONVENTIONS OF REAL MEDIA
PRODUCTS
The skeleton of my trailer is around the narrative structure which is an integral key to making it
effective and ensuring it serves the purpose of advertising a film which doesnt reveal too much. As
a trailers purpose is to essentially encourage my target audience to go and view a film in the
cinema I wanted to use the basic narrative structure dominantly in other real media trailers, as this
is the first part of the film the target audience will see so it important not to throw my audience off
Ambiguity whether or not the just by the structure of the trailer. I have done this by using the basis of Todorovs narrative theory
restoration of the equilibrium will be where many film narratives begin with equilibrium, changes due to a disruption, the quest in
achieved. search for the equilibrium and the restoration of this equilibrium. Similar in other trailer I do not
reveal whether or not the equilibrium is restored as this is something that audience are drawn to
Red undertones finding out. All my trailer which I analysed make use of this and due to having such strong positive
receptions and outlining clearly what the story line is simply in the trailer I didnt want to challenge
a convention thats going to make my trailer more complicated. I've done this through the use of
my sections in my trailer. You can easily divide up my trailer in the beginning, middle and end. The
beginning I have signified the equilibrium by using naturistic images which connote calmness and
tranquillity paired along side a solemn piano soundtrack it highlights the equilibrium. This is used
as a slight irony however as its at the beginning of a horror film trailer so it seems almost too good
to be true, this leads on to the next section of my trailer. The disruption of the equilibrium, this is
also signified by the soundtrack and sound effects changing and causing a juxtaposition to the
previous soundtrack. The following section of my trailer shows a quest for the restoration of the
equilibrium and highlights the dangers and horrors that come with that thus making it fall under
the horror genre.
Throughout my project in my trailer, poster and magazine I wanted to use iconography of real
horror media products and I found this most commonly through the use of the colour schemes,
common colours used most predominantly are black and red. I utilised this as I wanted to make
products that are recognisable and belong to a certain genre. As this will catch the targets
audiences attention and then the rest of the content will essentially draw them to my products. I
wanted to use this convention throughout my trailer as I like the connotations of the colours as
they signify death, danger and blood which are themes going throughout my film However most of
the colour corrections have been done in post production so therefore I was able to enhances these
colours to really portray these themes across to my target audience. These colours have been
Use of black utilised throughout however I have also developed the colour scheme as I wanted to challenge the
usual stereotypical colours of the horror genre. In my coming soon screen in my trailer you can
see the hint of blue that is developed I wanted to develop the stereotypical colours by using blue as
it connotes tranquillity but instead convey to the audience an uneasy feeling as its not an expected
colour to appear in association to the horror genre.
The most obvious conventions I have used in my media products are the legal requirements. These
consists of the bbfc rating screen at the beginning of my trailer which I decided to rate a 15 due to
the horror aspects and being quite distressing for some people so therefore I placed that at
beginning of trailer to show that. Similarly in poster I put the billings at the bottom so I gave credit
Production company to show who made the to the creators (this case was me) and on the magazine put the barcode as legally you should show
film. this as the magazine is essentially going to be sold and despite the legal requirements of this it also
hints at professionalism as real life media products have these things.
 In my film the evil
presence presents MY MEDIA PRODUCT DEVELOP
itself through the use
of social media in
CONVENTIONS OF REAL MEDIA PRODUCTS
this case the evil The idea of the Hermeneutic Code narrative code has been developed
presence is forgotten through all of my media products and all the way through my trailer the
memories of the past enigma exists as a convention of horror as it creates suspense and
like their dead friend. questions making the trailer more appealing to people thus making the film
more intriguing serving the purpose of advertising. My enigma is shown
through my trailer in different forms in my trailer it is shown through the
presence which is spoken about and also appears through texts, innocent
girls turned evil and in their everyday lives. For example the scene where
my character is on the computer and something creeps up from behind her.
I wanted to develop my enigma into something paranormal which
eventually psychogically affects my character but to really convey
something that goes beyond my characters and affects my audience and the
way I wanted to do this was conveying my enigma through the fear of
everyday social things like texting, and social media. The film narrative
creates the classic horror genre through the use of a primal fear - the fear
of the unknown. According to a 2004 paper in the Journal of Media
Unfriended Psychology by Dr. Glenn Walters one of the three primary factors that make
2015 film Friend horror films alluring is relevance. I developed my enigma throughout to
takes place request target my audience in society thats focused on technology. Many films that
over a skype 2016 about have a developed technological horror themes throughout include
call Facebook Unfriended (Leo Gabriadze 2015) and Friend Request (Simon Verhoeven
2016) . The idea of the enigma has been developed from the usual real
media texts as many films explore the 21st century fears of technology but
mine combines the fear of technologies with the enigma affecting my
characters psychologically. This can be seen in the scene where my
character says do you know what scares me the most// im not even sure if
The enigma is first this is all real this highlights the fear of technology and how it goes beyond
the social media and computers and begins to affect people personally. So
shown through the despite the fear of technology being a narrative convention for many horror
technology in every day films going into the 21st century mine also explores other fears like
life but soon comes into psychological aspects of this enigma/presence that hasnt been identified.
their life outside of
The trailer serves the purpose of advertising so having an on going enigma
social media and that is going to attract the audience to wanting to find out what it is is a
becomes a good convention to develop into my poster and magazine. For example my
psychological issue as poster has a very simplistic design but really encapsulates the narrative of
she says I'm not even my film. I wanted to use the usual conventions of teen horror film posters
and make it much more simplistic and therefore making it appear much
sure if this is real more ambiguous, similarly on my magazine cover I utilise screen captures
in order to show parts of the trailers narrative.

Both female villains, but still not
giving away how and why they're
tormenting the victims.
Both female victims, yet they develop into hero's, helpers, and
dispatchers as they take it upon themselves to stand up to what
is tormenting them.
MY MEDIA PRODUCT DEVELOP
CONVENTIONS OF REAL MEDIA PRODUCTS
In my trailer I have an all female cast in order to convey the idea of
victimisation. The girls appear weak and vulnerable to begin with as they are
going through a hard time, this is established through the loss of their friend
Emma. Also making them appear weak and vulnerable is the domestic
setting of the home and more specifically my characters bedroom. This
emphasises my character as being a victim due to her being targeted in her
own house. The mysterious use of an arm reaching out to grab her as she is
paying her respects on her friends Facebook page is more terrifying for the
audience to look as it appears out of place and the domestic setting is not a
place to be targeted by an evil spirit. The victimisation of female characters is
very stereotypical of horror film trailers as the female characters are
stereotypically very frail and weak which is seen in my opening shots
however I wanted to challenge this stereotype which can be explained by
Propps character theory Propps believes in every film there is a hero, villain,
princess, the dispatchers, donor, helper, father and false hero. However as I
limited myself to only four total characters I wanted to challenge the usual
character stereotypes for example the victimised female character typically
the princess who needs saving. The female characters in my trailer appear to
be that to begin with but they become stronger and appear to have more of a
purpose they need to go on quest to typically stop this villain which is
tormenting them so they are no longer just the victims they become the hero,
the helpers, the donors so therefore challenge this usual victim character
that females play. Similarly to how the female characters (the younger
characters assumed to be them when they were younger) are also the villain
as its their past memories and secrets when they were younger that is
tormenting them.
Even though the female characters are much stronger as they stand up to
what is victimising them as the trailer goes on, its still not so much that it
gives away a big part of the plot as audience members go to watch the film to
find out the resolution.
Camera Sound
Bass jump
scare noise Change to more
as the upbeat tense
mood horror
shifts to soundtrack.
something
more
Over the shoulder shot sinister
emerges us into the
POV shot
scene
puts us
into eyes of Solemn piano sad
the track at the
Long tormenter.
shot beginning sets up
the mood
Establishing shot
establishes location

Mise-en-scene Editing Rule of

thirds
Dark woodland area applied to
editing
my
magazine

Misty effect overplayed

on my production
company

Glitch effect to convey disorientation

Ghosted misty effect
Forrest typical of horrors throughout.

Low key lighting conveys

demonic like figures