1. Evaluation Question 1 By Melissa Afriyie

2. FILM TRAILER

3. In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products? Prior to our won production of the horror film trailer, we done a lot of research both as a group and also independently into teaser trailers. We were assigned to produce a teaser trailer and through the research I carried out I was able to make a clear distinction between a general trailer and a teaser trailer. It was important that I acknowledged this whilst producing my film and did not give away too much information about the film as a whole through the trailer. If this was the case then the main concept of your film may be revealed through the trailer and therefore it may lose its sense of excitement and mystery, discouraging potential viewers to come and see your film. Our trailer had to be 30 to 60 seconds long. In relation to a teaser trailer, this is more than enough time to promote and market your film to an audience effectively and although it is such a short time, it is surprising the amount ideas we initially had however changed our minds as a result of it giving away too much in such a short time.

4. I also looked at many teaser trailers in order to gain a physical insight as to the similar forms and conventions they shared. I looked at trailers from many different genres such as Sci-Fi, comedy and finally horror. An example of two horror trailers I looked at were ‘Let Me In’ and also ‘My Soul To Take’, both films released this year. The two trailers consisted of may similar conventions ranging from the types of shots used to the settings. They both included many close up shots of the victims. In relation to my own film trailer, we adopted this convention of close-up shots in order to encourage intimacy and also empathy between the viewers and the victims. We used this form effectively and it also worked well with the scared facial expressions and sounds of heavy panting of the victims also resulting in the viewer subconsciously empathizing with the victims. My trailer also consists of shots of Jess, who plays Jodie Williams running in fear. This also an element of real horror trailers which I noticed was usually used. My trailer also includes a quick shot of Jess’ feet running away. I decided to use this shot after I had seen this is the ‘My Soul To Take’ trailer and felt it was an effective way to show an increase in pace of the trailer and also develop suspense.

5. USE OF CLOSE UP SHOTS IN… ‘My Soul to Take’ ‘Let Me In’

6. My film trailer also uses the common elements of sound in horror films/trailers. As a group we decided to use music that was most recognizable as music that can be associated with movies of a horror genre. We choose to do this to make it as clear as possible what genre our movie was of and also we felt that music that is used in horror trailers and films are very effective I terms of building suspense. The music we chose to use was of a slow pace in which the beat was simple and not complicated and myself and other members of my group often found ourselves humming along to it. The simplicity of the soundtrack I feel is effective as it does not distract the viewer from what is actually going on on-screen. This reflected the music used in real media productions of horror trailers as they also are simple and are of a high pitched tone. Our use of subtitles throughout the trailer demonstrates the use of conventions found in real media. There are many trailers out which have adopted the use of subtitles to inform the viewer of further information about their film such as the title, the directors and also the date the film is being released. We chose to use this to educate the viewer and also to enhance the viewers ability to recognise that it is a film trailer.

7. USE OF SUBTITLES IN OTHER MEDIA…

8. In relation to real media products we used however developed the role of the victim in our trailer. As a horror trailer it is expected that there are antagonists and protagonists, a person who is killing someone/people or who is doing something wrong, and then the victims who suffer as a result of the villain. In our horror trailer we chose to stick with the idea of having a victim as it made the most sense to but as our horror film is of a psychological horror genre, it made sense to ensure it had a twist to it. After a lot of thinking, we decided that the killer would also be the victim. This best explained in our synopsis. (Please click here for link)We felt this twist in which a woman who had been carrying out a massacre of many other young women whilst wearing a mask is turned into the victim herself during the last murder she is to carry out. I believe that this develops the cliché roles of victims being just victims and not capable of defending themselves or shifting roles throughout the film.

9. Our horror film trailer also challenged forms and conventions of real media products in many ways, in particular horror films. Most horror productions include many rapid shots or overlapping throughout the trailer in order to keep the viewer on the edge of their seat however in our horror production, we decided that we will use a rather slow pace of shots which is not expected of a horror trailer in order to slowly increase the suspense before introducing shots of a faster pace. We also challenged the use of voiceovers in trailers. I chose not to include this in my horror movie trailer as I felt it spoils the connection between the audience and trailer. In my opinion it is best suited for a comedy film trailer or a an action film trailer rather than a horror film or romance trailer as they are more intimate and subtle in terms of their storylines and approach they have towards the viewers. Finally, our film trailer aims to challenges the view of women in media as a whole. Research shows that the ratio of men to women on TV is 3:1. As a group we decided that through our horror trailer would challenge this in itself, therefore we ensured that all actors in our trailer were not dominantly but entirely female. Also as the killer in our trailer is a women, it changes stereotypical perceptions of women as passive individuals who are weak and innocent.

10. FILM POSTER

11. As part of our publicity campaign, we were also asked to produce a film poster promoting our horror film. Having researched into other film posters I recognised that they share many conventions which I felt were important to use in ,my own film poster In order to make them recognisable as a film poster. The conventions I adopted from other film posters were the use of: Main picture text release date film production details production team logo Names of actors title of film Possibly a website

12. When creating my film poster, I acknowledged all these conventions and ensured I included them however I did not include a web address and therefore it may argued that it challenges this form of convention. I also stuck with the typical use of colours associated with horror which are black, red and white. I chose to make the name of the film ‘Midnight Massacre’ bright white in order for it to stand out in comparison to the other text on the page. However I made the number ‘2’ on the film poster the colour red in order to differentiate it from the text ‘Midnight Massacre’, emphasizing that this was a sequel to the first ‘Midnight Massacre’. Another way in which my poster uses recognisable forms and conventions of real media is by the image I used for the poster. Most film poster include an image of the main character, however a totally different picture of them and not from a snippet of the movie almost as if they posed for the picture. I adopted this into my own production and edited a picture I took of Jess surrounded by the most symbolic props in our film, a mask and also red lipstick.

13. My Film Poster…

14. MAGAZINE COVER

15. In addition to the film trailer and film poster, we were asked to create a film magazine cover that advertises ‘Midnight Massacre 2’. As any other task, I researched into this specific area. I looked at many magazines however analysed two: Empire and Entertainment Magazine. My blog entry for this can be found by (clicking here) . In order to ensure my film magazine looked and included the required details of a film magazine I made sure that whilst designing I included a main image, masthead, strap line, issue number, barcode, price and also cover lines. In order to make it look as professional as it could, I used the Corel Software which was available to me on my computer at home and in which I am familiar with in order to make sure that I could get the best out of it. Both Entertainment and Empire magazine shared many similar conventions such as overlapping of the masthead and image and also different size font and text on the front cover. I used these conventions in my own production using a range of fonts and also colours for my magazine front cover. The two magazines also had some differences. The image on entertainment magazine had been partially covered by the title of the magazine whereas the empire magazine’s image was placed on top of the text. Although this may have only been used because Empire magazine is a well established enough magazine and is well known that even if part of the title is covered, viewers will still know it is that magazine due to the text used. I chose to adopt this convention inferring that my magazine already has a good sense of brand awareness and also tried it out in an aim to stretch my editing skills using Corel.

16. My Film Magazine….