Evaluation Question 1.

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

The majority of the modern day horror trailers will share the similar traits and conventions and will fit into the bracket of the forms perfectly, these will include showing off the genre of the movie, the name of the movie and the production values too.

In comparison with my group and our trailer I believe that we have expressed the same traits as what would be viewed in a professional movie trailer. For example within our trailer we have established different shots which would give the idea of it being a horror trailer and not to be confused with any other bracket such as Comedy or Rom-Coms. The use of showing the hidden scary character only once or twice very briefly also gives off a uneasy impression that he is not meant to be introduced straight away in the trailer, as to watch and to appear later on and cause havoc. As the trailer carries on the titles appear in blood red colour shaking across the screen, which would only be visible in a horror movie, separating it from the rest, but also showing the traditional horror conventions. We aimed to create suspense with the trailer by unveiling the name of the film in time with the music at the end of the trailer, something which is associated with many trailers put out professionally. We wanted ours not to follow in the conventions too much but so people could grasp the idea of what approach we were taking for our trailer. We didn't include the names of the actors in our trailers as we didn't include any 'big names' within our trailer, so they wouldn't have the ability to draw viewers in to watching our film as people such as Brad Pitt and Leonardo Di Caprio would have. But a once called upon trait within horror films is that generally horror isn't known for well known names, but more for its thrill seeking attitude and suspense building measures. I believe outside the bounds of horror films they use big superstar names in titles to draw customers in, immediately separating our trailer from the mainstream set of films available today.

The two Protagonist's at the start of the trailer, following the normal trailer conventions.

Every trailer made must share a bond or connection with its demographic and include key elements that will entice them into watching the film and increase the sale rates. We targeted our trailer to every horror fan but we believed that ages from 15-30 would find our film more interesting out of anyone. By using a complete teenager cast would help swoop in the teen-mid adult range we believed as they could relate to the events that were happening, by starting off the trailer with shots of two of the members setting out on their journey should hopefully show the identification and plot of the cast and where abouts they were heading. We expanded on the identification of the characters with the widely visible appearance of a Protagonist and Antagonist. Kieran Browne and Louis Caseley playing the two Protagonists and myself, Isaac Reeder playing the Antagonist. Evidently shown in the build up of the clips and the repetition of them being included, whereas my character is only included once or twice on a second basis. It also creates a relationship between the film, the characters to the audience members to try and urge them to go watch the full film.

Another trait that all horror trailers build on is the aspect of creating tension by revealing small snippets of the film, along with pacey shots and thumping music. By using these in any order too you can create a sense of confusion that can only be cleared and sorted by watching the film after seeing the teaser trailer. The use of different types of colour helped to build a climax, as we shot most of the work in the dark, immediately making it seem more eerie and creepy, rather than in the day. The use of red text helps too as its always associated with blood and gore, Helping to build a horror picture and tension.

The red text used in our trailer.

Referring back to the use of sound, it was very vital that we had the right sound to match our video, to provide the right sort of atmosphere, build-up and tension we wanted. This followed the normal horror convention with the beat picking up pace towards the end of the trailer, giving off the vibe that something bad is going to happen. Without the added bonus of music our trailer would lose most of its suspension. We felt that we didn't want to over-use the music part and kept it strictly to the beats with no voice overs, we thought the beat done a great job on its own. Over do-ing it could potentially ruin the feel and pace of the trailer too.

The abandoned ruins surrounded by enclosing tree's and gravestones.

Although I have already talked about the traditional horror trailer conventions, one of the main conventions is the locations and settings included. We found an abandoned ruins surrounded by trees, built up by the darkness. The setting complimented the type of film it would be massively, as this type of setting wouldnt be associated with any other genre of film. It creates a sense of unknown, a sense of being trapped and unable to escape, exactly what we wanted to portray through our trailer. Having the more scary clips being built up in the night time helped back up the typical convention of a horror trailer too.

Similar to that of a normal trailer, horror trailers also possess a style of their own. Including different styles of camera shots that would only work for their genre. A prime example of this is at the end of our trailer where a Long shot is used to show the Antagonist praying on the Protagonist, to create anxiety and nervousness. If such a shot used in a Comedy trailer for example, it wouldn't have the same effect as in a horror film. It also backs up the representation of the horror genre.

Finally, the use of the Antagonist character only appearing once or twice in the film makes you focus on why they are only included for such a short time and what effect will their character bring to the film and the behaviour of the other characters. We tried not to reveal too much about the so called 'Monster' so we could entice people more into watching the full film.

The main clip including the Antagonist attacking one of the Protagonist.