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

To show how our horror trailer challenges and develops forms and conventions of real media products, I have taken 6 shots from my trailer and 6 from actual horror trailers and put them side by side. As you can see some of the shots are nearly exactly the same. This is because when filming our trailer we tried to use shots which were common in teaser trailers to make the target audience excited but without giving away too much of the plot. For example, close ups of the main character are often used to show what they look like, who the actors is, what they are feeling or what's going on in their life.Location shots for example like the shot I've shown of a front door and an establishing shot of the house - these are again to give an idea of the plot but not give everything away otherwise then it would seem less mysteries and the target audience could lose interest. The shot we used of our main character in bed when she sees a dark figure is similar to the movie 'Paranormal Activity' where most of the hauntings happen when the main character is in bed. This is because night time is seen as conventionally the time for hauntings and supernatural goings on. We fear the dark and in the middle of the night we could feel disorientated and confused, making everything seem that little bit more freaky.We didn't challenge conventions much in our teaser trailer, most of what we filmed was conventional. 

Teaser Trailers are very important to media production companies in making money because without them the target audience wouldn't know about the film. The target audience for our teaser trailer was 17-25 year olds. This means that teaser trailers played in the cinema and on television would definitely catch their eye as stereotypically this age group would be watching films or television quite a lot. Within the teaser trailer editing and camera shots are particular obvious. For example with editing, how fast paced the trailer is, the effects on text, transitions, cuts etc. Shot sizes including close ups, establishing shots, medium close ups - all shots to show different things. Close ups show emotion for example fear in horror. Establishing shots show location. Medium close ups show character and a bit of the location - not giving away too much.  Our trailer is about a woman who used to be locked away in solitary confinement and once she has escaped and is living a normal life all of her past demons and memories come back to haunt her. This type of idea is similar to films such as Paranormal Activity because the ghosts themselves are never seen but the fear on the main protagonist's face and the strange goings on around the characters are what makes the film mysterious and scary. When making any teaser trailer there is always a need to follow conventions because this is what makes the film itself successful. Without the teaser trailer people wouldn't go to see the film and therefore the production company wouldn't make any money.


Going back to the 6 screen shots I have chosen, the similarities and differences and fairly obvious. I think that many shots in our trailer appear quite professional as we tried to make them look as realistic as possible. However, with one camera, two locations, and limited props and lighting etc, it is hard to make the shots as realistic as they would be in an actual teaser trailer or film itself.


Non digetic sounds in our trailer are quite minimal. This was to create more suspense and mystery. We have some high pitched string noises through out most of the trailer, and some loud bangs when the text appears on screen. Digetic sounds in the trailer include our main character screaming in the middle of the night. We also have a clip of her begging to to be 'let out' when she is trapped in the cell. This is conventional of a horror teaser trailer because it makes the audience feel uneasy and scared - tempting them to go and see the film to see what it's all about. We decided not to use a voice over on our trailer. This is because in general horror films don't use voice overs as they can ruin the suspense. Voice overs work particularly well in every other genre of film but don't fit as well with horror. A few horror films do chose to have a voice over but conventionally they wouldn't. Other than the few words our character says, we haven't included much dialogue. This is because our horror film is mainly based on one character, she doesn't have a family or friends around her, she is secluded/alone. Conventionally a horror trailer wouldn't use much dialogue anyway, because the shots and screams are far more important as general conversation in the film wouldn't be too exciting.