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

The film trailer we have created has some conventions of horror trailers which we gathered from analysing other horror film trailers, we noted key segments in the structure of horror genre trailers to include in our own; A happy and joyful opening in which the audience is introduced to the characters and is made to construct a judgement based on representation. Use of intertitles in black screens to further display narrative

Use of eary music and various supernatural sound effects A quick montage where unexplainable events occur to build enigma Finishes with an after-shock after the film title and opening date

In order to effectively complete our A2 media portfolio, it was compulsory to have had research and analysis. Having done this we had received an idea of what was required for a successful movie trailer, magazine and poster cover. We had analysed movie trailers and by noting down certain elements that were present throughout each trailer, we were sure to include those on our own, like the approval screen and production logos in the introduction of the trailer which appears identical in design to most first few seconds of a trailer. Our film trailer introduces the protagonists with a cheerful setting with the use of a mid-shot of the younger version of herself and her twin sister having a tea party setting an innocent representation in order to disturb the set mood shortly after a scene in which a clip of her sister running and the younger version of the protagonist looking back intercut between each other and build pace to insinuate that a momentary climax is going to be reached, then with the sound of a car screech and body thump, an ominous mood is evoked as a black screen with the inter-title broken fades in to denote the end of a relationship as her sister is shown dead on the street in a boom shot. A noted convention of the horror genre is the sense of an unhealthy attachment alongside suspension builds and loud noises into a shocking cut, and that is what we aimed to present through showing little Lisa holding the doll after the death of her sister, with video effects on the POV shot and sound building up for suspense to cut into an extreme close-up of the protagonists eyes in the present time which the film is set in, these scenes are followed one by another in order to link and establish both characters are the same person at different ages, by showing the eyes only we also create a temporary enigma as nobody knows what she looks like yet. Paranormal activity 4s trailer was a major influence for our choice in chronological order as it too begins by showing past events to build character, which is a very common theme in horror films as audiences are often influenced to sympathise with the protagonist by displaying an innocent representation to later shock the audience, following Tzvetan Todorovs theory of equilibrium and disequilibrium.

Use of the boom shot was to pay homage to Spike Lee for the opening of Clockers where corpses are shown in a boom shot initially zoomed into the fatal wound, thus acting as a foreshadow for the future cause for disturbance as the boom shot is initially zoomed into the doll, which challenges standard trailers as instead, narrative is suggested intertextually, similar to the parody Scary Movie 5 does in its trailer when using Charlie Sheens quote Ive come back from worse than this as a cultural reference for the audience to take notice of and be gratified, however instead of using parody as a postmodern technique, we went with homage and pastiche, as we also made use of the film Drag me to hell by imitating the scene in which the protagonist is performing an exorcism and created a similar scene in our own, in which we used candles, crystals and a golden bowl mixed with water and milk to connote a spiritual setting, as well as using Paranormal Activity 2 for influence by similarly having a scene in which a girl is dragged across the floor unwillingly by a supernatural force. As our trailer progresses, the pace of the edit begins to build speed and soon becomes a montage after a little pause is used to introduce another character: the psychologist, a key character who is present in many horror films as when following Vladimir Props theory would be regarded as the the helper. During this montage the audience are then presented with various shots showing the dolls presence, which develops standard horror trailers by actually displaying the reason for supernatural events to be occurring like a prop or character, much like mama and drag me to hell do in their trailers. Another issue addressed in our film is the ideology of female vulnerability; this is approached by the main protagonist in our film being female which is conventional of horror films like paranormal activity 4 and silent hill. The settings indicating she lives in alone, therefore is isolated and even more vulnerable, however iconography suggests otherwise as shots of her wielding a knife are shown to establish a juxtaposition of standard expectations, disarming the audience to be at shock and creating an even bigger enigma on the narrative, like why is she wielding a knife? What exactly is she running from? The duration of the trailer was just over a minute which gave the audience enough time to gain a brief insight into the storyline without giving too much of it away, effectively building an enigma on narrative. This is the average duration for a teaser trailer. Sound was used emphasising each scene in which it was added to. Many horror trailers that we had analysed include eerie track of sort however with little use of any actual music, which our trailer conforms to by having some eerie music and sound effects, the use of sound within the trailer mirrors some conventions of trailers; we used
silence in order to create suspense, music to make the audience further sympathise with characters thus letting their guard down, rising music to indicate a climax and a loud sound effect to shock them.

Inter-titles are a standard feature of film trailers, however theyre even more

particularly distinguishable in horror films as the graphology often appeals to its genre through use of odd fonts and how its content gives some context to the scenes, so for example in paranormal activity 4s trailer, the inter-titles provide a narrating voice to what the scenes display, however in our own trailer it simply accentuates the evoking emotion by stating their proximity and clarifying the death of her sister. In the last title we also had a text advertising our twitter, synergy is displayed here by linking the film across different platforms which is realistically available as we had created both a twitter and a facebook page for our trailer. We chose the data as 01/12/2013 for our film in order to conform to real media texts as production companies often aim to release their films close to a holiday for maximum profit. Film Magazine Front Cover The film magazine front cover we have created mostly follows conventional patterns of real media products. From our research we noted down certain aspects.

The magazine name is in bold and usually at the top, presented to be positioned across and on top of the main image. Our image must attract and be recognized with a certain film genre. Font size depends on how important each heading is. Color schemes are extremely important as they normally match with the main image The barcode and price are revealed

Our image on the magazine uses forms and conventions of the horror genre. The image is our main protagonist standing in the middle of a park. We used this image firstly because after receiving our audience research, it was made obvious that this was the image they favoured. A mid shot is used to present our main protagonist. Also the image of our main protagonist indicates shes alone and shes a female character fighting for her life. She stares straight at the camera suggesting that shes determined to win this battle as she holds the doll with both hands. Looking at the image of Lisa it is easy to distinguish what genre the film is based on. Her serious face makes her seem angry and emotionless, this relates to our film genre as her eyes are wide open. Elements of the supernatural are presented here as she looks dark and possessed, this reflects on what occurs with the film trailer. Her clothes portray her as an average teenager as she is wearing a bright colourful checkered shirt alongside a bright coloured cardigan with jeans. Juxtaposition is shown as her facial expression indicates how grim and tense she is whereas her clothes indicate how bright and happy she use to be. Our film magazine name is twisted illustrating our twisted plot. The title is in a large bold font, in front of the text as it is the first thing readers must see. The title is black with a hint of red outlining the letters, the two colors connate blood and evil. This is presented successfully with our color schemes as our film title Peek a Boo is white,

illuminating innocence. We added a heading to my magazine of the title. The boldness of the writing is to draw the reader in and grab their attention. Extra information gives readers an insight into what else is within the magazine. World exclusive is written bold capitals, much like the title of the magazine. This focuses its importance as it is exclusively enticing.We got inspiration from the Empire magazine film cover to do a film strip at the bottom of the magazine, in order to tease readers, giving examples of similar movies that shall we released. The release date and the barcode hold great importance within a film magazine. The release date allows the readers to acknowledge when the film is going to be out and the barcode is not only presented because it looks professional, its displayed as the issue number is based on the month shown on the cover. Film Poster The film poster we have created mostly follows conventional patterns of real media products. The image in our poster was enlarged to be displayed on the entire poster with the use of a extreme close up shot. The image is of our main characters eye, with a little image of the doll within the pupil of the eye. This construction ties in well with stereotypical conventions of a horror film. The image of the eye is extremely effective as the eye is indicated to be the windows to the soul; this is a mirror of the characters soul which has gone dark and murky. The black background also represents the darkness within the character and also exhibiting the darkness of the film. The color black connotes hidden, the secretive and the unknown, creating an air of mystery. The colour of our title PEEK A BOO is in white across the dark background above the eye, this colours connotation is purity and innocence, and this may refer back to the start of the film trailer, in which our main character was innocent. The colour gives out a calm and serene feel. It didnt want to let go is our tagline we presented it in a thinner font then the actual title and also positioned it to be displayed under the eye. This gives a horrific effect, as it made obvious it is the doll that doesnt want to let go. The way it is written is also very blunt and direct; this is in keeping with the horror theme convention. At the bottom of the poster, in small text is the credits. In all film posters, famous names are written in larger text to attract that certain target audience. The release date is displayed in a much larger text, its revealed to be eye catching and appealing to those they may want to watch our film.