Evaluation Question 1

IN WHAT WAYS DOES YOUR MEDIA PRODUCT USE,

DEVELOP OR CHALLENGE FORMS AND CONVENTIONS OF REAL MEDIA PRODUCTS?

FORMAT CONVENTIONS

TEASER TRAILER

Duration:Most commonly, teaser trailers are around 30-90 seconds long. From doing our research,

there are some exceptions where the teaser trailers are longer or shorter than this time, such as A Girl Like Her, however we based ours on the most typical length, so therefore ours is 1:07 long and fits in with the conventions of a teaser trailer. These are teaser trailers that are Teen

Drama films and also mostly fit in with our narrative. They range from 1:00 to 1:40 long.

TEASER TRAILER




These are the teaser trailers for Insidious and Inception which aren’t from the same genre as a Teen Drama, but still follow the conventions of the duration of a teaser trailer.

TEASER TRAILER




This is a typical teaser trailer duration because this gives the audience a brief narrative to understand what goes on in the film and a brief plot with the main elements highlighted, such as the characters involved and the genre. However it still does not give away the whole plot of

the film. This in turn creates an enigma for the audience and leaves them wanting to watch the film as they would want to see what happens.

These are the teaser trailers for Insidious and Inception which aren’t from the same genre as a Teen Drama, but still follow the conventions of the duration of a teaser trailer.

EDITING In teaser trailers, there is a use of continuity, montages, a change of pace which gets quicker towards the end of the trailer and certain transitions. These include quick cuts towards the end of the teaser trailer. We followed the conventions of this and applied them to our own trailer for our film ‘Unrevealed.’ In ours, we used cross dissolves to link our shots together. For example, as the protagonist is overlapping with the online profile of ‘Alex Lock’, this reinforces the idea that they are connected.

EDITING

In our teaser trailer we used continuity editing, and in this part of our trailer we used match on action editing of when Alex requests Jessica to be ‘his’ friend. Not only does this link all the shots together, it is effective because it speeds up the pace of the trailer, which therefore raises the intensity and keeps the audience engaged. Also, this is when the main action and narrative of the film begin.

In teaser trailers, there is a use of continuity, montages, a change of pace which gets quicker towards the end of the trailer and certain transitions. These include quick cuts towards the end of the teaser trailer. We followed the conventions of this and applied them to our own trailer for our film ‘Unrevealed.’ In ours, we used cross dissolves to link our shots together. For example, as the protagonist is overlapping with the online profile of ‘Alex Lock’, this reinforces the idea that they are connected.

In our teaser trailer we used continuity editing, and in this part of our trailer we used match on action editing of when Alex requests Jessica to be ‘his’ friend. Not only does this link all the shots together, it is effective because it speeds up the pace of the trailer, which therefore raises the intensity and keeps the audience engaged. Also, this is when the main action and narrative of the film begin.

In teaser trailers, there is a use of continuity, montages, a change of pace which gets quicker towards the end of the trailer and certain transitions. These include quick cuts towards the end of the teaser trailer. We followed the conventions of this and applied them to our own trailer for our film ‘Unrevealed.’ In ours, we used cross dissolves to link our shots together. For example, as the protagonist is overlapping with the online profile of ‘Alex Lock’, this reinforces the idea that they are connected.

EDITING

Also in our teaser trailer we used a montage, which is a convention for this type of product. This establishes a development in time and allows the audience to understand a brief narrative, since a range of shots are used, without giving the plot away.

EDITING Here is an example from A Girl Like Her, where the teaser trailer uses a montage and this quickens the pace. As this is also

a teen drama this works well as it intensifies the action and captivates the

audience. Therefore we used a very similar format in our own teaser trailer. It

also uses similar mis en scene in our teaser trailer due to the use of online

messages and teenage girl characters in a college.






Our teaser trailer, ‘Unrevealed.’













This is also similar to the film Catfish, which uses a montage of messages to

develop the characters. Our film narrative is also highly based on this

film, so this works well.

SOUND

SOUND In teaser trailers, both diegetic and non-diegetic sound is used to set the mood and genre of the

trailer and add to the tension and action happening. Music keeps the intensity stable throughout to keep the audiences attention. In our teaser trailer, we used a slow piece of music for the first half of

the trailer to set the dull mood for the audience and establish our genre is a drama. We also used diegetic sounds of a keyboard typing to match the action going on in the trailer, and it also

establishes the element of online action which is involved in our film. We also used a diegetic sound of a school bell to set the location of a college, which relates to a teen drama. This is also used in A Girl Like Her at the start of the trailer. We also believed that using no dialogue in our trailer worked

well as it created more of an enigma and instead we used messages as a form of dialogue to relate to our narrative theme of social networking. Although most teaser trailers use dialogue to highlight the

most important elements of our film, we challenged this convention as we believed no dialogue worked well. The same is used in the teaser trailer for inception.

SOUND In teaser trailers, both diegetic and non-diegetic sound is used to set the mood and genre of the

trailer and add to the tension and action happening. Music keeps the intensity stable throughout to keep the audiences attention. In our teaser trailer, we used a slow piece of music for the first half of

the trailer to set the dull mood for the audience and establish our genre is a drama. We also used diegetic sounds of a keyboard typing to match the action going on in the trailer, and it also

establishes the element of online action which is involved in our film. We also used a diegetic sound of a school bell to set the location of a college, which relates to a teen drama. This is also used in A Girl Like Her at the start of the trailer. We also believed that using no dialogue in our trailer worked

well as it created more of an enigma and instead we used messages as a form of dialogue to relate to our narrative theme of social networking. Although most teaser trailers use dialogue to highlight the

most important elements of our film, we challenged this convention as we believed no dialogue worked well. The same is used in the teaser trailer for inception.

The sound of the school bell begins here to match with the college environment.

This is an example from A Girl Like Her from when the bell sounds to match the school environment.

TEXT AND GRAPHICS

Another way we followed the conventions of a teaser trailer using text is that our title of our film was shown at the very end of the trailer. This is because it brings together all of the action in the trailer and would stick in the audiences

head as this is the last thing they would see. Frequently used in teaser trailers, It is very large and bold, which catches the audiences attention

The words ‘coming soon’ or the release date of the film are always shown at the end of the trailer. This is because it allows the audience to know the film will be released soon and they can bare this in mind and will hopefully remember the film. We also included the social media links to Facebook and Twitter of our film since our target audience of 15-24 year olds are fans of these sites so they can therefore gain more

interaction with the film. We have also kept the font style and colour simple, but bold and readable, as used in “A Girl Like Her” trailer.

These are the company idents for our film; ‘Shadow Creative’ and ‘Storm Productions.’ This follows the conventions of a real teaser trailer as they are shown at the start of the trailer, to allow the audience to know who made the film, and if it is a well known company, then the audience may be more likely to be intrigued to watch

the film. We made them simple but interesting as our film is an independent film.

TEXT AND GRAPHICS

These are the company idents for our film; ‘Shadow Creative’ and ‘Storm Productions.’ This follows the conventions of a real teaser trailer as they are shown at the start of the trailer, to allow the audience to know who made the film, and if it is a well known company, then the audience may be more likely to be intrigued to watch

the film. We made them simple but interesting as our film is an independent film.

Another way we followed the conventions of a teaser trailer using text is that our title of our film was shown at the very end of the trailer. This is because it brings together all of the action in the trailer and would stick in the audiences

head as this is the last thing they would see. Frequently used in teaser trailers, It is very large and bold, which catches the audiences attention

The words ‘coming soon’ or the release date of the film are always shown at the end of the trailer. This is because it allows the audience to know the film will be released soon and they can bare this in mind and will hopefully remember the film. We also included the social media links to Facebook and Twitter of our film since our target audience of 15-24 year olds are fans of these sites so they can therefore gain more

interaction with the film. We have also kept the font style and colour simple, but bold and readable, as used in “A Girl Like Her” trailer.

A Girl Like Her examples.

NARRATIVE INFORMATIONIn teaser trailers, the narrative information given is much more limited compared to a full theatrical trailer.

Teaser trailers give the audience a brief plot and establishes the genre and characters involved, whereas theatrical trailers reinforce these ideas further and the audience get more of a grasp of what the film involves. Although teaser trailers provide limited information, they are effective since they are more

intense, and will therefore engage the audience more and make them want to watch the film to see what happens in the narrative.

A convention of a teaser trailer is that it has title screens in between the shots to further the understanding of the narrative for the audience, as seen in the teaser trailer for ‘Inception.’ However in our own teaser, we

challenged this convention as we believed our trailer gave enough information about the plot for the audience through the use of online messages as shown below.






We got inspiration from this from the trailer for ‘Catfish’, which is what our film is heavily based on. Although Catfish still uses title screens to add to the understanding of the narrative, it still uses online messages to add to the plot.






We got inspiration from this from the trailer for ‘Catfish’, which is what our film is heavily based on. Although Catfish still uses title screens to add to the understanding of the narrative, it still uses online messages to add to the plot.

We from the teaser trailer ‘Cloverfield’ as they do not

use any titles at all to increase a further

understanding of the narrative.

NARRATIVE INFORMATION

Our trailer follows a very similar narrative to the film Catfish so the trailer for this film was a perfect example to use of how to

get our narrative across.

Like Catfish, both the characters are established through the use of online Facebook profiles. This follows the film

conventions of establishing characters. Additionally, the name ‘Lock’ connotes secrecy, which is a key element in our film.


Also like Catfish, we have established the narrative by showing the characters exchanging messages. This connotes there is relationship starting to be built.

The mis en scene of a keyboard and a mobile phone also emphasises this point. The use of the message ‘I know your secret’ further develops the

narrative as it shows how the protagonist is hiding something. This is part of our unique selling point as normally the person being manipulated online

(Jessica) is seen as innocent, however this innocence is contradicted by her secret. This creates an enigma and will intrigue our audience to watch the

film. Camerawork is also used to establish the narrative and the canted shot of the keyboard connotes the sense of diseqilbirm in the film. Also, it is a

close up of the antagonists hands. This keeps their identity hidden, and their identity is a crucial part of the narrative.


Much like Catfish, we used close ups and a change in mood to help establish the narrative. Camerawork also works as a convention for developing the narrative in a trailer. We used an extreme close up of Jessica smiling to intensify the shot and portray clearly how she is feeling. The same is achieved with the intense shot of her eyes. However the audience are shown a shift in narrative when at the

end of the trailer, Jessica is seen with her head in her hands with a clear change in mood. This is also the same for Catfish.


Much like Catfish, we used close ups and a change in mood to help establish the narrative. Camerawork also works as a convention for developing the narrative in a trailer. We used an extreme close up of Jessica smiling to intensify the shot and portray clearly how she is feeling. The same is achieved with the intense shot of her eyes. However the audience are shown a shift in narrative when at the

end of the trailer, Jessica is seen with her head in her hands with a clear change in mood. This is also the same for Catfish.

EXAMPLE- CATFISH

POSTER

This is our film poster, and we based this on the conventions of the film poster for ‘A Girl Like Her.’ This is

because the film had a similar narrative and we liked its overall effect it gave to the audience, so we therefore wanted

to incorporate this into our own.

POSTER

This is the tagline for our film. The alliteration works well as it sticks in the audiences heads and gives a brief narrative for the film, which follows the conventions for a film promotional campaign. Like the film poster for ‘A Girl Like Her’, we placed he tagline at the top of the poster. We used a simple white bold font in capital letters to ensure it stood out and made the poster slightly dramatic.

OUR POSTER- UNREVEALED EXAMPLE- A GIRL LIKE HER POSTER


This is the title of our film and how it is displayed on the film poster, which is based on the film title for ‘A Girl Like Her.’ This follows the conventions of a poster as the title of a film is large and bold to allow the audience to gain a clear understanding of what the film is called. We followed the conventions used on ‘A Girl Like Her’ poster by using the red box around black writing. This still allows the title to be read as one however symbolises a deeper meaning. For example, the ‘Un’, which is white conveys a sense of purity and innocence, and ‘revealed’ in red symbolises a darker secret identity. This follows conventions of a film title as they all normally have a hidden meaning which works well with

the plot of the film.



This is the title of our film and how it is displayed on the film poster, which is based on the film title for ‘A Girl Like Her.’ This follows the conventions of a poster as the title of a film is the largest and boldest font on the page to allow the audience to gain a clear understanding of what the film is called. We followed the conventions used on ‘A Girl Like Her’ poster by using the red box around black writing. This still allows

the title to be read as one however symbolises a deeper meaning. For example, the ‘Un’, which is white conveys a sense of purity and innocence, and ‘revealed’ in red symbolises a darker secret identity. This follows conventions of a film title as they all normally have a hidden

meaning which works well with the plot of the film.

The information at the bottom follows conventions of a poster since all film posters have this to give information on directors, producers, etc… It is a white font to match the rest of the poster, however like all film posters it is very small so that it can only be read when up-close. This is

because this information is not crucial to promote the film as it is not the main selling point. We also followed ‘A Girl Like Her’ poster conventions by including social media information at the bottom of the poster to increase audience interaction for the film, which will lead to

the success of the marketing campaign. We also used the words ‘the all too familiar story, to follow ‘A Girl Like Her’s poster conventions, by using similar wording. This works well as the events in our film do happen in the real world, meaning our audience can relate to the film well.

It also follows conventions by stating the film is ‘Coming Soon’ to allow the audience to discover the film is out soon.


POSTER CONVENTIONS- MAIN IMAGE



Our own film poster follows poster conventions in that the main images are the largest focus on the poster, it relates to the target audience, gives an insight into the narrative

MAGAZINE

We based our magazine cover on the woman’s film magazine ‘Studio’, and we followed this certain magazines conventions to ensure it appealed to our target audience of 15-24 year old females and grabbed the interest of Studio readers. We used the same colours of pink and white to ensure it matched and the cover looked balance to highlight it is from the same company. The colours also work well as the protagonists bed and laptop are pink. These colours also relate well to the target audience of females.

MAGAZINE

We used the same skyline ‘Britain's first women’s film magazine’ as the one used on the original Studio magazine. This is effective as the use of the word ‘first’ results in the magazine being more unique and would therefore attract

more readers, who will then see the promotion of our film. We used the same pink colour as used on the Studio

magazine to follow its conventions, and it also meant this could appeal to our target audience of females. We also used a similar font and made the letters spaced out from

each other, just like the original magazine to ensure its conventions were followed.

The date is written in small font and this follows the conventions of a magazine cover as it is not the main focus of the cover. Instead it is simply just a useful part of information.

The buzzword ‘Exclusive’ entices the reader to buy the magazine as it highlights how it is a special edition and they may be able to read information which is fresh in the film world. It Is also slightly larger and a different colour than the other text to make it stand out more.

An issue name is used on each of the Studio magazines. We came up with our own one called ‘The Online Age.’ This works well as it relates to our film. We also changed the colour of ‘online’ and made it bigger to relate to the rest of the magazine and balance out the colours but it also allows the word to stand out to the reader. We did not put ‘the online issue’, as the word ‘issue’ is not used on every cover; they are all unique and we believed we could take advantage if this. It also works well because being online and social media sites is as popular as ever today.

Just like all film magazine covers, we included information om films to please the reader

since they will be film enthusiasts.

We used the same skyline ‘Britain's first women’s film magazine’ as the one used on the original Studio magazine. This is effective as the use of the word ‘first’ results in the magazine being more unique and would therefore attract

more readers, who will then see the promotion of our film. We used the same pink colour as used on the Studio

magazine to follow its conventions, and it also meant this could appeal to our target audience of females. We also used a similar font and made the letters spaced out from

each other, just like the original magazine to ensure its conventions were followed.

The masthead is one of the main focuses on a magazine cover as this establishes their identity. We ensured the title of ‘Studio’ was the same size and font as the original make

to ensure conventions were followed.

We included the link to Studio’s online website, just like the magazine we based our own off, to ensure the

reader can gain as much interaction as possible with the magazine.

The date is written in small font and this follows the conventions of a magazine cover as it is not the main focus of the cover. Instead it is simply just a useful part of information.

To follow the magazines conventions, we used the main image of the protagonist as the largest on the cover as this is the focus of he issue and it also promotes our film well. Therefore, it is placed in the centre of the cover. It also sometimes helps to partly establish the narrative. In this case, our narrative involves online elements. The buzzword ‘Exclusive’ entices the reader to buy the

magazine as it highlights how it is a special edition and they may be able to read information which is fresh in the film world. It Is also slightly larger and a different colour than the other text to make it stand out more.

An issue name is used on each of the Studio magazines. We came up with our own one called ‘The Online Age.’ This works well as it relates to our film. We also changed the colour of ‘online’ and made it bigger to relate to the rest of the magazine and balance out the colours but it also allows the word to stand out to the reader. We did not put ‘the online issue’, as the word ‘issue’ is not used on every cover; they are all unique and we believed we could take advantage if this. It also works well because being online and social media sites is as popular as ever today.

We followed conventions by including anchorage text on the magazine to allow the reader what else is inside the particular film issue. We used a similar white font to the magazine we got inspiration from to ensure we were following their own personal conventions and to ensure the magazine appealed to their target audience of females, who are target audience were. Additionally, we made the main information bold, just like the original. We also included the pink dots to add to the effect of the overall appearance of the magazine and it is also similar to the original Studio magazine. We placed all the anchorage text to one side of he cover to follow conventions, however we placed it on the opposite side to the one we based ours on to ensure ours was more unique but it also allows more of the main image to be focused on.

Even though on most film magazine covers, the title is the same style as used in the trailer and poster, ours is different to ensure we correctly followed the conventions of Studio magazine. This means it will be more likely for our cover to appeal to Studio’s target audience, and therefore they can read about our film which may influence them to watch it.

Just like all film magazine covers, we included information om films to please the reader

since they will be film enthusiasts.

GENRE CONVENTIONS

TEASER TRAILER This is the first shot of our teaser trailer and it is used as an establishing shot and the audience can instantly see that it is set in a college, which the target audience can easily relate to. We also sped this shot slightly up and added in a blurred effect to have the focus on the protagonist and also represent her as lonely, which is the basis for the narrative. The iconography of he mobile phone also establishes the teen genre as phones are stereotypically associated with teenagers, and therefore our target audience can relate to this.

This is a mid shot of the protagonist. Like the shot previously, it is in a college setting and the mis en scene shows her walking though a crowd of people with the iconography of the bag to also represent the college location. This location is also realistic which signifies the drama genre; dramas reflect realism.

The panning shot of the image of Jessica’s Facebook profile establishes her character and allows the audience to begin to build a relationship with her. It also hints at the online narrative and establishes the teen aspect of a teen drama since social media sites are typically associated with this age category.

The close up of Jessica typing supports the drama genre as it intensifies the shot and makes it more dramatic. It also further establishes the online narrative due to the mis en scene of a computer.

This is very similar to the teaser trailer for A Girl Like Her, which uses an establishing shot of a

college.

This is similar to this shot used in the teaser trailer for the film Cyberbully. Although our shot is a close up and this is a mid close up, we believed this was necessary to intensify the shot to signify the drama genre.

This is similar to the shot in A Girl Like Her which represents the character as lonely, a recurring theme in teen dramas. It is also in the setting of a high school, which conveys a sense of realism which our target audience can easily relate to, and this follows the conventions for a teen drama.

This is a similar shot to the one used in the trailer for Catfish.

The college setting helps establish the genre of a teen drama. This is helped by the long shot that allows the audience to view the characters surroundings. This point is also helped by the iconography of the school bag and mis en scene of teenage characters. Also, in this scene, we see Jessica being bullied, which is a key theme in teen dramas, so we are therefore following this genres conventions.

This type of scene can also be seen in the trailer for Cyberbully, a film similar to ours with a narrative based around social networking. In this mid shot, we see the main character walking through college corridors in a stressed mental state, which teen dramas often address and enable the audience to relate to.

This black and white still shot is very effective and used a lot in teen dramas to intensify the action in the scene and allow the audience to see the characters facial expressions in detail to set the mood of the film. The mid eye level shot allows the audience to see the location of a college corridor and the iconography of school books, and the way the character I centralized in the shot allows the audience to fully focus on them. Therefore, we are following conventions of a teen drama.

This is also seen in a bullying scene in the trailer for A Girl Like Her, which follows the teen drama conventions. Additionally, our target audience could relate to this as it has a theme of bullying, which a lot of teenagers either go through themselves or are education within it

The low key lighting and close up of the antagonists hands helps establish the genre of a teen drama as the shot is intense and builds suspense. Also, the iconography of a laptop works well with a teen drama, since most teenagers own one.

The close up shot of our tagline allows our film genre to be

established through the words and also relates to this genre through the

use of social networking sites; something very popular with

teenagers. Also, the word ‘love’ also represents the element of the

romance genre in our film.

The title of Unrevealed uses the colours of white, red and black. We based this on the title of “A Girl Like Her.” The red and black are

dark colours and this signifies the genre of a drama as these types of films have a darker narrative. The red also has connotations of love since our film also has a genre of romance. However the red

also has connotations of danger and our film portrays the danger of being online. The white has connotations of innocence, as people who are being manipulated online, which we have included in our

film, are normally portrayed as innocent.

TITLE

POSTERThe poster helps to establish teen drama conventions.

The genre of a drama is established through the serious facial expressions from the

characters. This is also heightened by the low key lighting. The teen part of teen drama is

also established through the age of the protagonist, who is a teenager. Additionally,

the use of the bold dark title further emphasises the drama genre. Further, the use

of the line “the all too familiar story” represents a teen drama as is highlights the

narrative is realistic and teen dramas use a lot of realistic situations, what our target

audience can relate to. Additionally, the tag line which is placed at the top of the poster

relates to teen dramas as most teenagers go through these type of situations at this age,

therefore following conventions of a teen drama.

MAGAZINEOur magazine helps establish

our genre through the use of the teenager lying on her bed with the iconography of the laptop.

Additionally, the font and colours used on the cover relate

to teenagers. The facial expression of the protagonist

emphasises the film is not light-hearted and therefore is a

drama genre, as the magazine cover is not too dramatic to be a

more intense genre such as a horror. The laptop helps

establish the teen drama genre as these are typical and realistic

props used in these types of films.

INSTITUTIONAL CONVENTIONS Our film follows the conventions of a smaller independent film rather than a blockbuster film as it features less characters, who aren’t known actors and

it is a realistic film due to the relative narrative.

Education

Evaluation Question 1