Evaluation Question 1

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

Format Research played a big part in the development of my ideas and how I came about putting them in my work effectively. It was important I studied existing horror movies and trailers exploring the different genres and their conventions. I did this by, comparing horror trailers from different time frames for example, Saw 2004 and Jigsaw 2017. After that I went on to create a Prezi that collected all my observations and analysis about the typicality of this horror genre. Additionally, I compared and contrasted horror genres and sub genres, studied horror theorists, media make up and camera shots. 

After thoroughly considering these elements, I discovered that horror trailers (no matter what year) always display fast moving cuts to build tension and supply an unsettling notion to the pictures they are presenting. The cuts make the audience unaware of what exactly they are viewing and many horror trailers either use this to give what would be a normal setting a disturbing feel about it or to break up a distressing image to intensify the suspense levels. Irony, contrast and juxtaposition being a strong element to the imagery in my trailer, fast pace cuts worked really well in my: ‘what seems innocent’ scenes. For example, when the girl was skipping through the dark woods holding vivacious red balloons. Distorting the shot tells the viewer there is something not right or normal here, engaging them throughout my trailer.

In the light of imagery, I took the not so conventional technique in traditional horror trailers and challenged their use of dark obscure scenery by instead placing symbols associated with happiness and celebration, for example balloons in a church and balloons in a woodland path way. As an effect of this, my trailer creates a sinister atmosphere where my audience are left to wonder ‘why?’. This will attract them to watch the full movie.

One key form and convention which I was inspired by is the use jump scares. For these to work effectively the audience should not be expecting it, which is why I decided to use a jump scare at the end of the trailer. Most Hollywood film trailers use may jump scares throughout their however due to the physiological horror genre I am going for I limited the amount of jump scares and instead created a high level of sinister suspense leading up to it. I believe this worked well and successfully judging my audience’s reaction ‘it got them!’.

Along with my trailer, I created a psychological horror magazine front cover.My magazine front cover followed traditional conventions of real media products, for example VME’s Hell Boy feature. Like the VME front cover I tried to make it look as professional as possible, this meant defying and conforming to typical conventions. For a magazine front cover to look professional and work successfully it has to be original and creative, this meant I did not include all conventions of horror magazine covers and decided to keep it simple and not busy or overly complicated. Moreover, I used a master head, sub titles, banners, puff, pug, barcode, large main image and colour scheme of black, white and red. I choose not to use secondary/sub images as I felt they took attention away from the main image and made the magazine as a whole look too busy. 

Firstly, I decided on the name ‘Suspense’ and used it within my master-head. I thought there was no better way to describe a psychological horror then explore what it creates: and that is a profound amount of ‘suspense’. Previous horror magazines also use names that describe the impact of horror for example ‘Eerie’ and ‘Creepy’ which inspired me find a name that suits my horror genre and my magazine. Like most conventional magazines I also made my master head big bold to catch the eye of my audience. As an effect of the master head my magazine becomes branded and recognisable.

Secondly, I included a puff stating ‘A3 poster from And This Little Piggy’, this is positioned on the left-hand side of the page as that is the side we read first, effectively making sure it is one of the first elements my audience will see. Free posters is a huge attraction for people to buy magazines especially fans of the new movie. Puffs are typical on magazines and therefore by including it, my magazine appears professional and interesting like real products out there today. 

 Taking in to consideration my theme is horror, characters and imagery is an important part of the plot and therefore the reflection of this must be creepy and terrifying. The cover image in my opinion is one of the most important part to a successful magazine therefore using equipment to my advantage I shot the images as high quality as possible. Using a black background, harsh lighting and props I placed my actor in his costume and shot from a face on angle. I imagined my magazine’s photograph to have my subject in a bulls eye composition where the face of the pig peered/emerged out of the darkness. To create this effect, I placed the photo in to Photoshop here I enhanced his features by creating a contrast defining the texture amongst his face and enhancing his details.

To ensure my magazine can be sold I placed a barcode at the bottom of my page on the left-hand side and included the price next to the date at the top of the page right hand side. I did this to ensure my magazine looks professional and high end.

In addition to the creation of my trailer and magazine cover, I produced a poster to represent the upcoming film ‘’And This Little Piggy…”. From my research of conventions, I defied and conformed to conventions of posters from movies such as ‘Orphan’. Going for the portrait frame my poster follows a very similar layout however I defied techniques through my choice of imagery and photography manipulations.

The first way my poster follows conventions is by including the film title in a big bold font that suggests a scratched, etched or engraved style. Many horror posters use this angry style to project a discomforting atmosphere that echoes the twisted notion of the horror film itself. Font style has a massive impact on the way something is viewed, perhaps it is a language within itself. The film title is an important piece of information that is always included in movie posters no matter the genre, the aim is for the audience to remember the movie and yearn to watch it.

Like many horror film posters, they present the credits at the bottom of the page, I followed this convention by discovering a site called ‘DaFont.com’ that uses a similar font called ‘Steel Tongs’. Downloading this font to my laptop I then programmed it in to fonts I already have, meaning I can use the font on any software already embedded in to my laptop, for example Microsoft Word. Creating my own version of a credit block I used my name and other details within the creation of my trailer such as the crew and cast. Saving room on my poster I layered this font over the top and placing it at the bottom, where usually credits are presented. Overall credits allow an audience to appreciate significant members of the film, aspiring them to watch other creations. It also adds a clean finish presenting the poster in a professional looking way.

Unlike conventional posters I decided to defy the use of dark imagery and instead explore the lightness of my poster in a sinister and twisted manner. The use of the balloon as a symbol of happiness and celebration double exposures the face of an evil pig. This juxtaposition entices the audience as they unravel the not so hopeful atmosphere of my horror. Despite not sticking to the conventions of traditional horror posters I felt that this was a successful trick of the eye and challenged forms successfully.