In what ways does your media product use develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?
My trailer adheres to the conventional horror genre stereotypes. The trailer starts of at a slow pace. This decision was made based on analysing existing trailers in the research and planning stage. The pace is slow as the start to show a calm and content atmosphere. The opening sequence portrays the setting of the characters. The setting includes a long shot of a river and close up shots of the nature. Furthermore, after each shot there is a fade to enhance the slow pace. After there are shots of the characters setting up their tent and recording silly videos of each other. This adds the aspect of realism and relatability to the movie as many young adults do that on a daily basis if they go out somewhere together. Also, this was done as at the start of the majority of horror trailers that I have analysed in order to establish an equilibrium in which all the characters are pleased. The sinister aspects start after the time lapse. The time lapse is used in order to show a change in time, in this instance it was from day to night. The idea of the day being safe and night being dangerous is a binary opposition as they are complete opposites, which was discovered by Levi Strauss. This is conventional as normally during the day everything is fine and there is a steadiness however, the night and darkness have negative connotations including death and mystery which will add to the fear feature. The pace of the non-digetic music in the background increases and there is an added non-digetic sound effect of a heartbeat. The shots become much faster and the whole trailer becomes tenser. There are shots of the antagonist coming closer, there is also people running which is quite conventional for a horror trailer and finally there is a shot sequences of a character jumping over a fence and a close up of his facial expression which connotes fear. All these shots put together helped to create a fast pace and suspense. During the shot of a character walking towards the light on the ground the song slows down and fades and all you can hear is the heartbeat. This was done to create tension and portray to the audience how frightened the character is feeling – that all you can hear is their heartbeat.
As the title appear there is a loud crescendo sound. This is conventional as it finally breaks the tension that has been building. Lastly at the very end we included a jump scare of the antagonist popping up on the screen as this will catch the audience by surprise due to them thinking the trailer was over. This is conventional for a horror trailer as the aim of it is to scare the audience and in turn cause them to watch the film if they like the aspect of jump scares.
The characters featured in the trailer are also very conventional and adhere to stereotypes. This links to Propp’s Character Theory as every character has a specific role. Firstly, the ‘dumb blonde’ character is called Olivia. This character is stereotyped to be quite promiscuous and unintelligent. In the trailer there is a shot were she gets dragged by an unknown figure. This reinforced the stereotype of her being quite weak and not inventive which further connotes that her chances of survival are low. Another conventional character is the ‘virgin’, she is portrayed by the character of Amber. This role is characterised by being the shy and proper character that is the most likely to stay alive and in turn contrasts the promiscuous ‘dumb blonde’. This also relates to the Final Girl Theory which was created by Carol J Clover as the character has the most chances of survival due to her being resourceful. The last conventional role is the ‘jock’, this role is presented by Chris. This character is very athletic and therefore, acts as a leader. He is brave, however, his chances of survival seem to be limited.
My poster is quite conventional and also adheres to the horror genre. At the top there is my tag line which states ‘it’s always watching’. The tagline is written in a Sans Serif font and in white to contrast the dark background. The tagline is quite conventional as it connotes that something mysterious is watching the characters and audience. The main image consists of the masked antagonist. Due to the antagonist being masked it is still keeping the mystery aspect. Furthermore due to the antagonist facing forward he is making eye contact with the audience walking by, that may look at the poster. This may cause them to be more intrigued. The title is written in a San serif font. It is in red as the colour connotes danger and death. This is conventional for a horror film as there is a lot of murders and injuries that cause blood flow and it's just overall, dangerous for the characters. Below the title are the names of everyone involved and under that there is text stating “coming soon”. This is also written in red to allow continuity and showing that it is an important piece of information. This creates excitement as the audience will be waiting for the announcement of the release date. Lastly, under all the text are logos of production companies that were involved in the making of the movie. If an individual notices a company he likes other films of, they may be more drawn into wanting to watch this one. This links to the Uses and Gratifications theory as people use film for entertainment and a time of wind down with their family; watching a film together will be a starting point.
Lastly, I also believe my magazine cover is conventional. The masthead is spread through the width of the cover and is on top of the picture. The masthead is written in serif font and it's clear and bold. Due to it being written in white, I decided to put a black stroke around the letter to make it stand out. On the right side of the cover is the main image of a close up of half the antagonist. This is conventional as you can clearly see the mask which acts like an USP of the film due to it being featured in both the main and ancillary tasks. On the left side are all the teasers and stories included in the magazine. There is also a button which is a very conventional feature of a magazine. At the bottom there are more teasers which I placed in a yellow strip to add colour. The issue number and date are located next to the masthead which is conventional as every magazine must be issued moreover the barcode is located in the bottom right with the price as it has to be sold.
How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary text?
The combination of both texts is very effective. There are ongoing motifs throughout both the main and ancillary texts I have produced. The first motif is the antagonist which appears in both the main and ancillary texts, specifically the mask he is wearing. We made the decision of masking the antagonist as then the audience would not know anything about them. It will link to the fear of the unknown as no one knows anything about the antagonist which will cause the audience to ask questions such as; who is the killer? Why are they doing this? It will further enhance the aspect of mystery. In the trailer there are 4 scenes which are spread out across a duration of around 20 seconds which feature the antagonist wearing the mask in a forest background. After each shot the antagonist gets closer to the audience which builds tension throughout the last sequence. Finally, the last shot consists of the masked antagonist popping up at the audience which may have caused a jump scare. This relates to the ancillary task of the magazine as the front page features a close up photograph of half of the masked character. Furthermore, it also links to the poster, as the main image consist of the mask being positioned in the centre. This allows continuity through all 3 products and causes the antagonist to be quite easy to remember. Moreover, it’s effective as it portrays the same evil in all texts which will create fear for the audience.
Another recurring motif is the tagline ‘It's watching’. The tagline appears at the end of the trailer in the credits. The tagline works well with the trailer as the antagonist seems to be watching the characters in order to hunt them down. Furthermore the audience is also watching the characters and watching the footage that they created. Lastly, the song that is playing in the background of the trailer states “I'll be watching you”. This relates to the idea that the characters are always being watched by someone. The aspect of watching also comes into people watching/looking at the poster and magazine cover. This is effective as the theme is recurring through different mediums in the text e.g. music.
The last remaining motif is the colour scheme. The colours that are mostly used were red black white and a bit of yellow. All the semiotics presented, convey a different meaning. The colour red is used on the antagonists mask in the trailer, title on the poster and subheadings on the magazine front cover. Red connotes danger and blood which are aspects that adhere to the horror genre causing both of the texts to be effective. The colour black is used in the clothing of the antagonist, as a background for the poster and as a stroke tool colour on the masthead on the magazine. The colour black connotes mystery and death which also conventional for the horror genre. The last main colour was white which featured on the transition shots in the trailer, text colour in the poster and text colour for the masthead. The colour white normally connotes innocence and purity but in this instant it subverts the horror genre stereotype. Therefore it was used only sometimes in order to create contrast.
What have you learned from your audience feedback?
I have learned a fair bit from my audience feedback. I have presented my magazine cover and poster to my target audience which consisted of young adults age 16-23. I believe this age range is reliable and relevant as a lot of younger people find horror films as a form of entertainment and adrenaline which resulting in them attending the cinema a fair bit. I have found a couple of people from my sample and asked them to give me any feedback on my ancillary tasks. I wrote down all the feedback I received. The positive responses included that the key image worked well, the magazine name is appropriate, the font on the poster is effective and that the colour scheme of the poster is also effective.
Also I have conducted a questionnaire in order to see what my target audience likes to see in a horror film/genre. The questions targeted many aspects of horror movies including sounds, fonts, and sub genres. Furthermore, at the start there are a couple of questions about the individual.
The first thing we found out was whether our sample enjoys watching horror films, which the majority did. This was good as their opinion and questionnaires will matter. Then we asked the reasons behind them watching horror films. The most common answer was for adrenaline which made my group ensure the trailer will keep the audience on the edge of their seats to guarantee the sense of adrenaline and suspense. We also asked about the sounds the sample wanted to hear, the majority said a build-up of sound to a crescendo which matches the adrenaline response as it allows us to create a build-up scene at the end. The next question asked about the location, shooting in a forest was the most popular which was helpful as it allowed the horror to be more realistic as there are many forests around that are open to the public. Lastly, we asked the target audience about their greatest fear so we can use that as the antagonist in our trailer. The fear of the unknown was the most popular which gave us the idea to use found footage throughout the whole trailer in order to keep the aspect of mystery.
How did you use media technologies in the constructions and research, planning and evaluation stages?
During the pre-production and research stage of my coursework I used many media technologies including softwares like Microsoft Word/PowerPoint. In order to create my questionnaire I used Microsoft Word due to it being quite simple and easy to use. The questionnaire was used to find out what my target audience of young adults aged 16 - 24 would like and expect to see in a horror trailer. The results that I obtained I converted into clear graphs that are easily read using Google Slides. Google Slides allowed me to quickly enter the data I obtained and changed it into a graph or pie chart. Due to this the data was easy to read and trends were clearly seen which allowed me to know what my audience would want to see in a horror film trailer. Throughout my research I also created presentations including the production stills. Microsoft PowerPoint allowed me to put all the production stills onto one slide. Furthermore to transfer that on to my blog I have used Slide Share. This allowed me to easily share my work.
During the construction/production stage I carried on using media technologies including Prezi. During the production stage my group decided to take test shots before so we would know how each shot would look and how to position the camera so that we are more experienced and save time. To record the test shots we used a Dslr camera which allowed me to take on the role of a camerawoman. This test shots that we created we presented on a Prezi. This allowed me to work with a new software and add variation to the way my work is presented. Furthermore, I also took on the role of a photographer during the filming days as I was taking photographs/production stills of how my group was setting up the camera and equipment. Another time when I became the photographer was when we had a photo shoot for our magazine cover and poster. This allowed me to know how to focus the camera and how the lighting should be when the photo is being taken. Moreover, I experimented with different filters on the lights which caused the pictures to have a different colour pay off. This caused me to be more creative. To record the film we used a camcorder. We decided to use an older media technology as we wanted the film to look like it was found footage. The camcorder allowed the video to turn out to look quite old but what we were doing was still visible and clear to the audience.
During the post production stage I used media technologies including Photoshop. When we chose the relevant footage we imported it into Davinci Resolve 14 which we used to edit the trailer. Davinci was a good editing software as it allowed us to, not only put our shots together but we were able to colour correct and change the speed of clips. For example, the shot of the sign stating ‘no entry after nightfall’ was added at the last minute and had to be filmed during the day. However, using Davinci we were able to darken the clip and make it fit to the rest of the trailer. Furthermore, during the middle of the trailer the song in the background speeds up. This was possible due to us being able to speed up that specific part of the song using Davinci. The production company opening that appears at the start of the trailer was made using Adobe After Effects. The whole opening was made from scratch. To make the blood drops seem more soft I used a Gaussian Blur effect as they were not the main focus point. Furthermore on the actual text I used a rough edge effect which caused the text to seem more distorted and as if it actually appeared from blood. Whereas the production company logo was created on Fireworks. The camera was also made from scratch by combining different shapes. The animation of it was done on Fireworks which was quite easy to use and it caused the logo to see, more real and interactive. Lastly, my magazine cover and poster were both created on Photoshop. With the poster to get only the mask I had to use the magic wand tool to crop the image. In order to achieve a sharper line I used the rubber tool and further zoomed in to rub out any unwanted aspects of the image. For my magazine cover, I had to use the fill tool in order to change the colour of my masthead to white. To further make my masthead stand out I used the stroke.
The last media technology I have used throughout all stages is Blogger. I used this software to present all the work that I have been doing. It allows me to create different posts and use different mediums including videos, presentations. Also it is easy to navigate through my blog due to the side bar which displays all the titles of my posts.
