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

2. I created a horror trailer, marketing poster and front cover for a
magazine for the Followers. These products were created and based
upon and around heavy research in to already existing media
products.
During the planning stages of my project I made sure I did a great
amount of research into other existing products and trends which
influenced my creation and decisions throughout my project. By
researching in to existing products it allowed me to become aware
of the conventions of horror trailers and promotion so that when
creating my own they could fit into the genre.
Researching enabled me to discover effective conventions, camera
angles, shot types, mise en scene, sound, narrative, etc. of the
horror genre. I could then apply these conventions to my own
creation and decisions throughout my project to help create a
professional product which mirrors the success of existing horror
products.

3. After doing a broad amount of research I made it more specific
by narrowing down the genre to paranormal horror. By doing
this it allowed me to replicate and adjust the conventions I
found into my own product for example, the technique of fast
pace editing and building up tension through the use of a
soundtrack.
Researching into the conventional codes of a parnormal horror
allowed me to create effective fast paced cuts to build up
tension as I had recognised that this was something which
was a convention to this genre. My movie trailer conforms to
the conventions of a paranormal horror through the use of
lighting and editing. The cuts from lit up scary characters to
darkness makes the trailer have a fast pace which builds up
tension or the audience and is a typical convention .

4. During my research I found that there was a common
conventional type of sounds attached to a paranormal horror.
These include loud sound effects for movement/transition
and diegetic sound and silence to create tension and
suspense. The use of sound within my trailer mirrors the
conventions of real media forms. I used silence in order to
create suspense and tension for the audience. I also used the
sound of screaming to convey the emotion of the
characters, but also because it is a loud sound and will
therefore make the audience jump.

5. Throughout my research I gathered that a common trailer from
this specific genre was inter titles throughout. The titles are
often cleverly made sentences to build up tension and to
scare and entice the audience but also gives a slight hint of
the plot to the film. This convention seems to work
successfully in existing products, therefore I decided to also
include this technique with my trailer. I believe that this
convention helped me to sow the narrative element to the
audience.
To replicate the conventions I decided to use a white font on a
black background similarly to many other horror films. The
simplistic look of this feature creates an innocent and creepy
feel to the titles.

6. When researching the conventional, stereotypical locations for a
paranormal horror, a family home was the most popular. I
believe that this location is the most successful as it can
connect directly to the audience and makes it more of a
personal experience as it is easier for them to imagine
themselves in the same position. With this in mind I decided
to mirror this convention by using the location of a home for
my trailer.
To engage my chosen target audience of teenagers the typical
convention suggests that this age group should be replicated
in the characters. I decided to use this convention in my own
product by my main actors being the age of 19 and 17, by
choosing to do this it allows a real connection to be made
with the audience.

7. My magazine cover challenges the normal conventions of a
magazine as it has mo text on the front other than the name
of the magazine. However, it does fit the conventions of the
brand of magazine ‘Little White Lies’, as it is conventional of
the magazine to show simplicity and have a profile image
which suggests a certain movie or genre which is what mine
displays.
My poster uses a steel tongs font to show the credits which
follows the conventions of a typical film poster, it also shows
the name of the film and its release date which is a
convention of poster. It also has a large image which engages
the audience with eye contact, this challenges the
conventions of a horror film poster as the conventions don’t
always show the true identity of the character.