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

2. For my research and planning I had to analyse
three existing horror teaser trailers. As for my
main task I had to produce a teaser trailer
myself that conforms the conventions of real
media products. There are a couple of
convention which I have developed and there a
couple of conventions which I have challenged. I
had analysed ‘Insidious’ ‘Saw 3D’ and ‘The
woman in black’.

3. Camera Shots
Conventions of a horror teaser trailer, in terms
of camera shots include close ups of the main
actors and actresses to focus on the facial
expression and for the audience to really
connect with them. Close-up exaggerates facial
expressions which convey emotion.

4. In all three teaser trailer I have
analysed, there are multi close-
up shots of the actors and
actresses. Here are some
examples. Also, no names were
stated in these teasers; this is a
convention of horror teaser
trailers. We can see how the
close-up in these images
emphasise their emotional
state. For example, the top
image; we can see the actress is
worried as she is looking down
with a straight face.

5. Close-up shot of my teaser trailer
Here is close-up image of the actor and actress in my teaser
trailer. Similar to real existing products, I didn’t state their
names in the teaser trailer but instead had a close-up to
show who they are. We can also see their emotional state,
that they are both happy by the smile on their face.

6. Lighting
A key convention of horror teaser trailers are
dark lighting and bright lighting. Lighting plays a
big part as it is expressive and non-naturalistic.
Lighting creates suspense and the climax of any
action.

7. It is clear that all three
teaser trailer I analysed
have used dark lighting.
This was to create
suspense at when actual
horror parts were. Dark
lighting is a key convention
when it comes to horror
films.

8. Lighting in my teaser trailer
This image displays how I used lighting in my teaser
trailer; I decided to follow the convention of dark
lighting. At this part of my teaser trailer is where a
‘horror’ scene takes place, and the dark lighting helps
set the mood and builds suspense.

9. Editing
Editing is one of the most important parts when
it comes to horror teaser trailers. For my teaser
trailer I had static transition from scene to
scene. This creates a more creepy feel to it.

10. I also used an effect called “cast” this is
how I made my scenes blue. I used this
effect to have a some sort of night vision
effect.

11. These three images
show the release date
for the teaser trailers I
analysed. In all three,
the release date are
shown at the end of the
teaser trailer. This is
purposely done so that
the last thing the
audience see’s is the
release date.

12. In contrast, my teaser trailer states “coming
soon” instead of having a specific date like the
teasers I analysed. However, the dateline is
positioned at the end of my teaser trailer like
the other teasers. It also includes a eerie
soundtrack towards the end.

13. The woman in black and
Insidious have a shot in the
teasers trailer showing the
setting. I have broken this
convention as my teaser
trailer setting didn’t look as
creepy as these two
settings do. Also, my teaser
trailer was filmed in an
apartment.

14. Sound
My teaser trailer follows key conventions in terms
of sound. Horror teaser trailers usually consist of
eerie sounds and music, high pitch sounds,
heartbeats, door creaking and screams.
In my teaser trailer I have included a heartbeat that
starts off very quiet then goes louder and louder till
it cuts to the next clip. Then at the end of my teaser
trailer it has a eerie soundtrack to finish off the
teaser trailer.