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

2. When researching the conventions of a
horror trailer I came across ideas such as:
The best horror trailers ask a question. They
set up a premise or a situation, and then
leave the viewer wanting to know more.
Another common convention is the "What
happened to those kids?" question.
Quarantine, Wolf Creek, and the Texas
Chainsaw Massacre use this model, but The
Blair Witch Project really did it best. The
audience knows something horrible
happened to those kids, but you have to
watch the film to find out what.
Following this idea I have aimed my trailer
at a mainstream horror film audience so the
majority of my conventions follow this
configuration.
Todorov’s theory: Todorov suggested that stories begin with an equilibrium or status quo where any potentially opposing forces are in
balance. Then agents of disruption cause disequilibrium, a period of unsettlement and disquiet. This is then followed by a renewed state of
peace and harmony for the protagonists and a new equilibrium brings the chaos to an end. The simplest form of narrative (sometimes referred
to as „Classic‟ or „Hollywood‟ narrative). Todorov suggested that conventional narratives are structured in five stages: 1-A state of equilibrium
at the outset. 2-A disruption of the equilibrium by some action. 3-A recognition that there has been a disruption. 4-An attempt to repair the
disruption. 5-A reinstatement of the equilibrium.
This type of narrative structure is very familiar to us and can be applied to many „mainstream‟ film narratives.
Propp’s theory: Vladimir Propp discovered that in stories there were always 8 types of characters evident. These are: the hero, the villain, the
donor, the dispatcher, the false hero, the helper, the princess and her father. There are only 8 different character types and only 31 things they
ever do. Once you have identified the character type (e.g., the hero) it‟s easy to guess what they will do (save the maiden, defeat the villain,
marry the maiden or whatever) because each character has a sphere of action. This is easily relatable to films today.
I think my trailer conforms to Todorov‟s theory the most due to the fact my story line does start with some sort of stability for the characters as
they leave their home. It also follows his theory as well as using the conventions of real media products in the way that the story takes a turn to
disruption and chaos as the characters find themselves in unfamiliar surroundings. I think on the whole my trailer uses the conventions of real
media products with several aspects and qualities but at the same time challenges current conventions due to features such as the hand-held
camera element to my trailer.

3. My beginning see‟s a very shaky camera shot of the four
girls on their way to Badgeworth in a car with their music
blaring out of the radio and perfectly happy and excited.
Over the top of this I faded in some text which reads “On
the 20th of September, four students travelled to the village
of Badgeworth to investigate a local urban legend.” I chose
to do this to firstly establish the story and made the girls
seem very content and cheerful in comparison to how they
are seen at the end of my trailer. I think the audience would
enjoy this contrasting and possibly foreshadowing
beginning and whilst researching into other trailer such as
The Blair Witch Project, which used the same idea, this
worked very well and gained good feedback from
audiences, as did mine.
For music and sound effects in my trailer I decided to begin
with a very current „pop‟ chart song by Beyoncé, first to
establish the era and age of the characters but also as a
contrast to the sound effects I have used later on in my
trailer. I debated whether or not to have this music as non-
diegetic or diegetic and after experiments decided to have it
playing off the radio/cd player in the car as a diegetic sound.
I did this so the characters became more involved in their
happiness as such and the audience could engage in the
realistic nature of my trailer and storyline.
I then decided to add a number of different sound effects,
mainly between the transitions and on the fades between
scenes in my trailer. I did this to accentuate the horror genre
and chose a range of eerie and sudden „thuds‟.
Using these songs and sound effects my trailer conforms
with musical conventions that are used in horror trailers to
create atmosphere and to emphasise the certain theme and
genre. For example in the „Eden Lake‟ trailer the majority
of the clips are fast, dark and intense and these are
highlighted and exaggerated by very dramatic and powerful
music.

4. In my trailer I chose to use the same font for the title and
release date as in my advertising of my trailer (the poster
and magazine cover). I did this in order to keep within the
visual style and appearance of my film.
Following the conventions of horror trailers I decided to
arrange my title and release date as a sort of conclusion to
the mixture of shots at the end of my trailer. I thought this
would work best in keeping the audience intrigued in the
name of the film. Having the title and release date at the
end as a conclusion of the trailer is a good way of creating
important information for the audience to remember about
the film.
I thought about putting a specific date on my release date
but when I thought about it, by leaving it to just the month
of „may 2012‟ it opened opportunities for my trailer to gain
more awareness and interest in the film through more
theatrical, full length trailers and TV spots. This would
give the audience more occasions to gain information
about the actors in the film and directors etc.
I was aided in my decision to do this through research of
other horror trailers such as „Paranormal Activity‟ and
„Eden Lake‟ who based their first trailers on the same
concept.

5. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D51QgOHrCj0
Here is a link to the trailer for The Blair Witch Project. Here you can see that my main
influence in deciding to use a hand-held camera based horror trailer was based heavily on
The Blair Witch Project‟s theatrical trailer. I love the simplicity of the shots in this trailer. It
goes along the lines of conventional horror trailers and conforms to Todorov‟s theory in that
it begins with a story, a main character and the opposing threat of „the blair witch‟ to be
balanced. I found this film to be such an inspiration because not only was it the first
extremely successful and well received hand-held horror film but remains to be the best. It
differs greatly from current horror‟s such as the „Saw‟ sequels or „Hostel‟. I love how
simply frightening the fast pace, shaky shots are and the fact that the audience never
actually see the „blair witch‟ I think makes it even more disturbing.
Whilst analysing this trailer as well as others I started to think about location and mise en
scene. I wanted to base mine in the dark, grungy woods to enhance the atmosphere of my
genre and enhance the representation of conventional horror‟s such as „Eden Lake‟, „The
Last House On The Left‟ and of course „The Blair Witch Project‟. After deliberation I
decided to set my trailer in my home village of Badgeworth. Not only was this location
convenient but it was perfect for the effect I wanted to achieve. As you can see in the
bottom image, the very long, steep road down to the main part of the village was a perfect
establishing shot of my location. I then started to think about the characters I wanted to
represent and which actors I needed. I assembled a cast I thought were best to portray firstly
the stereotypical characters of classic horror films. I chose my friends Flora, Dani and Cat,
and me as the „camera operator‟. I knew I wanted Flora to be the one who „survives‟ and I
chose her because she represents the typical young blonde female victim who manages to
escape. I think out of the four characters Flora is seen the most including several shots on
her own, away from the group and vulnerable.
My trailer starts off reasonably slow in order to set the scene and give the audience chance
to establish what the film is about. The pace of my trailer increases as it reaches the end in
an attempt to keep the audiences concentration and interest. I tried to keep the shots as dark
as possible to give the feel of the horror genre, a lot of the natural light is blocked out from
the trees an branches of my location and the only colour comes from the characters clothes
and features.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IYzNqVfjEvM A link to my finished trailer.