Question one A2 MEDIA

1. In what ways does your media produce use develop or challenge forms and
conventions of real media products?
QUESTION 1 - EVALUATION

2. HORROR TRAILER.
• In our trailer, I have researched into previous existing horror trailers in order
to compare and take ideas as to what the horror conventions are and how to
use them in my work.
• I also used my pre production research on horror conventions to impact the
content used in my trailer. For example, using an isolated area (the woods)
this presents the common horror convention of being out of safety, away from
the home and in a vulnerable and secluded area.

3. BLAIR WITCH PROJECT.
• When studying existing trailers we found aspects and conventions that would get the
typical horror genres across, for this we looked at Blair Witch Project and anaylsed
conventions that would be useful for example as seen in the beginning of our trailer, there
are cuts to a darkness and a small muddy child has parts of their body, such as the feet
illuminated from by a single torch light, and then a knife.
• In Blair witch, there was scenes of torch lights highlighting scary elements of the trailer.
In the pictures below, there are comparisons of the both trailers.
• Also, there is the convention of teenagers being the victims in the woods, this convention
was also comparable to the Blair witch project, as the main storyline was 3 students of
similar age adventuring out into a secluded and unknown woods, hoping to gather more
information and check out the a myth, our trailers storyline almost goes hand in hand,
indicating strongly that the conventions can be comparable.

4. LOCATION
• Blair Witch Project also effected the conventions displayed in terms of location
• We decided to go with the classical isolated forest theme. We chose this due to the whole
of idea of its cut-off feel that it brought to the trailer, it managed to enforce Levi Strauss’
theory of Binary opposites as the forest manages to contrast very heavily to the typical
urban/suburban scenery we are used to.
• The forest indicates isolation and away from our typical authorities that can be seen as
safety go to’s, such as the home, emergency services as well as parents.
• This location can act as signifier that the teenagers are vulnerable to danger as soon as
they enter and are away from the comfort of the civilised setting.

5. CONVENTIONS CONSIDERED DURING EDITING
• However, the trailer is mostly inaudible, with exception to the music. A typical horror trailer
would include speech to give the audience a clearer establishment of the storyline.
• Also, as seen in Black swan, most horrors cut to different shots quickly this heavily
considered and applied to our trailer, to ensure the fast as well as tense pace is
conveyed.
• However as mentioned above, we decided to challenge the convention of speech much in
contrast of the black swan trailer and use music in order to create tension between the
characters and storyline. We only allowed a slight clip of speech at the beginning to set
the scene, so the audience have something to work with in order to understand the basic
concept of the trailer (a young boy has died, seeking vengeance).

6. OTHER HORROR CONVENTIONS
• The knife is also a classic horror iconography , as seen in film Psycho in the shower
scene, the audience immediately connect the knife to danger, fear and death. We used
the knife as a signifier in our trailer.
• We also analyzed the conventions used in black swan and the use of blood throughout.
The use of blood was used as psychological panic for the character Nina and we decided
to use this convention with our character Anna, when she finds herself with blood on her
hands from the tree’s, incorporating conventions of potential psychological issues that
Nina experiences. This allowed us to blend the Slasher and psychological thriller genre
nicely.

7. EDEN LAKE
• We also noticed that many conventions may have stemmed from those shown in Eden
Lake. Already, we have the whole typical aspect of the forest being the isolated area
which can easily be compared to location used in our trailer.
• However, the main convention that is comparable between the two is the idea of Carol
Glover’s theory on the final girl. Billy’s lake involves Anna becoming the only character left
to stand up and defeat Billy. This was also used in Eden’s lake as the main female
character ultimately has no choice but to take on the power to fight against the teenagers
instead of the male (usually displayed as the protector in many stereotypical formats).
• However, Anna challenges the typical convention of becoming the “damsel in distress”
instead, Sid , a male characters is in need of aid.

8. EDEN LAKE
• Eden Lake also gave inspiration of conventions used in the photography and filming
• As seen below, these images show the similarities between the two.