Evaluation Question 1. (Script - Adding even more!)

The highlighted parts represent editing I have made to the script throughout

(It does not include the new section about the website)

 

Hello and welcome to question 1. of my evaluation. Question 1 asks 'In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of a real media product?'

In this I will be discussing and giving evidence for where I have and haven't used, developed and challenged the forms of a real media product.

So first things first, what is the purpose of a trailer? The purpose of a trailer is to begin to advertise a future film. To establish the characters and the narrative a little bit. To let the audience know the genre and co create hype.

A trailer also uses the enigma code. This refers to the little hooks trailers employ to set up an ambiguous mystery and catch the audience.

On the screen now are my 3 media products. On the left is my poster and on the right my trailer and a screenshot of my website. We will begin by talking about the trailer.

My trailer and the 'Willow Creek' trailer are similar in many ways. They both have first person shooting and a lot of both trailers take place in the wood.

The first main difference between the trailers is the fact that my killer is a human whereas theirs is Bigfoot. So in some ways here you could say that they are challenging the conventions of a horror film and I am not.

However my killer is not the conventional killer either. He is quite young and lanky whereas killers in horror films are typically either masked or big 'scary' looking men who fit the stereotype of what we as a society are taught to fear and keep away from.

In some ways this makes our killer scarier because he could be anybody you walk past on the street and you wouldn't know because he's not the stereotype you are taught to fear.

The woods in both of these trailers match the conventions of a horror film because they are isolated and dark. This makes the setting a little bit scarier because they can't 'see' what’s coming and they also can't escape or get help.

We have used quite a few point of view (POV) shots which helps the audience to connect to the character more because they feel like they are in the situation of the character.

Historically POV shots show the killer and/or monsters POV, however more recently they have been from the POV of the protagonists.

We have also done a few 'hand-held' camera shots. These mean that its not always clear to the audience what’s going on creating a little more intrigue.

The music in our trailer is very important because it helps to set the scene and build up the tension. We have used a couple of non-diegetic sounds in regards to the scream and the news reporter voice over.

The pace of the music can impact on the trailer because it helps to build tension with the clips you are seeing. However if the music was flat and had no build then the footage doesn't impact nearly as much.

A scream is quite conventional of a horror film so we aren't really breaking any major barriers there but it can also be quite disturbing for some people.

Quite frequently in horror films we see the colours black and red because they are dark and link to things like evil, blood and danger. We have also used these colourings in the texts we have used. This iconography helps the audience to make the connection quite early on that it is a horror film.

By using text in our trailer we were able to get information across quickly and effectively. Text also helps to anchor the narrative.

When we first started with our trailer it didn’t seem much like a trailer and more like a short film. When editing it we had to keep in mind that trailers and films have different conventions and we tried not to stray too much towards a film type feel.

Typically films are chronological whereas trailers don’t have to be. Ours starts at the beginning of the story but as we get towards the middle we start to jumble up the storyline. This helps the audience to distinguish that this is defiantly a trailer and not a film.

One thing we have that majorly challenges the conventions of a horror trailer or film is the fact that none of our protagonists survive. The film is set up to simply tell their story. There are no real 'hero's' in this.

In some ways this makes it scarier because it connects a little more with real life because not everything is black and white and not every crime is solved.

In every horror movie there is a battle between good and evil. And typically the hero always wins because we as a society want everything to have a nice and neat happily ever after. There are very few films that actually challenge this.

Our trailer does because although its not a game and no one really wins, evil still comes out on top because he's not stopped or caught making him more scary because he could still be out there.

 

Now we will move on to the poster and I will be comparing it with the poster from 'Paranormal Activity 4'. This poster is what we based our style off of when designing this version.

By having one of the girls as the main feature on the poster we are immediately connecting the two products.

The image is set in the woods which is our main location and shows her looking scared. This connects to the Paranormal Activity poster because they have also used their main location, which is the house and they also have a female as the main subject.

If our poster simply had the image of the girl then it would probably be considered as a thriller rather than a horror. However the bloody hand print connects it more to the horror genre. This is because blood is typically associated with horror.

Another thing that connects our poster to the horror genre is the text. Throughout our products we have used the same red, glowing text, usually on a black or really dark background. As I said earlier this red and black colour scheme is immediately connected to horror.

One thing we have done that develops the conventions of a real horror poster is the date. We have played on the fact that a lot of people are superstitious and believe 13 is an unlucky number. Although the 13/13/13 is not a real date it would create an air of suspense about when this film will actually be a reality.

For us this is also a little bit of a joke because obviously a full feature length film of this is never going to exits!

Now moving onto our website, I am going to be using the My Amityville horror website for the comparisons in this section.

The layouts of the websites are quite similar in that they both have the trailer on the top right hand side and there are reviews down the left hand side. However where our website spreads out across multiple pages the My Amityville horror is one single page.

 

On our website we have continued to use the colour scheme we have established in our other products, therefore continuing with the house style and representation of the horror genre.

After the main page of the website we have a page in which we show us creating the trailer and then following that the cast of the trailer. Although a cast list is quite common on a website, pictures of production are not but they help to give the website a more personal touch.

 

We have also added some music to the website to help create an atmosphere when people are scrolling through the pages. This also helps to make the website a little more interesting because if it had no sound it would have nothing to make it stand out from other trailers.

 

On the bottom of the website we have featured our logo that is also seen in our trailer. Having our logo here helps us to advertise the institution and also helps people to link the products and further advertising the film.

So I hope that has shown how throughout the products I have used, developed and challenged the forms of a real media product. Thank You for watching.