In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge

forms and conventions of real media products?

My teaser trailer needed to follow an action genre and fit the target audience of late teens to early thirties. Research tells me that people this age with an interest in action films enjoy thrilling action that put you on the edge of your seat and keeps you interested throughout. In my conventions of an action film research I found that a lot of action films include violence, suspense and hostility. Violence is often seen through threats, hostages, physical abuse, fights, chases etc all of which I wanted to include elements of in my trailer. This would be using forms and conventions of real media products as I am taking inspiration from film trailers such as taken, fast and furious, James bond etc: all very popular action packed films. I also used conventions of a teaser trailer through the use of the end title clip where I included ‘coming soon’ instead of a date as a teaser would not reveal a date.

I also developed real media products. Typically an action film trailer will reveal a little about the character even if they don’t intend do. My development to this is that although the audience think they know the male actor, they really do not. They do not know that it is his wife’s (who is not revealed in the teaser trailer) vengeful mind living inside of him and the minor hints I drop (amount of sugar in tea) will not be understood at this moment in time. I wanted to do this because the audience will build up this belief that they know what the film will be about just through the teaser trailer and then when they watch the full trailer they will be shocked from what they realise which will have a huge impact and make them want to go and watch the film.

I also challenge the idea of real media conventions through character, appearance, structure and many more. I made a questionnaire on survey gizmo (link below) and got my peers in the class to watch the trailer and answer the survey and this highlights the effect of challenges and uses of media conventions in more detail.

http://www.surveygizmo.com/s3/1615425/My-media-product-using-developing-or-challenging-forms-and-conventions-of-real-media-products

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Using a lead male character was using conventions of real media as it tends to be male actors who take the lead in action films: as seen form my research in ‘conventions of an action film’. As you can see 85.7% believed that having a lead male actor was better than having a lead female actor. From this evidence I can concur that following typical media conventions at this point would probably help me to have a more successful teaser trailer and eventually film. But lets find out why...

From the results I got it seems to be that following the media convention of using a dominant male lead for an action film is mainly used because of stereotypes “men are stronger than women” “you should never hit a woman” etc. However these are just stereotypes, women can be just as strong as men and if I was to do my trailer again I think I would actually challenge this media convention and use a “strong and fearless female” because this could be an eye opener for all people around. An action film is supposed to create suspense and make you empathise with the ‘hero’ no matter what gender they are. Challenging the result of “strong hunky males” appealing to females and “violence” appealing to men, I believe that seeing a strong woman will attract both genres and all ages because it shows power of women and how they can cop in tough situations. This feedback was very helpful because it made me realise that I would have a better chance of succeeding with a strong male but a strong female would have been much more original. The sub genre of romance is also a great idea, of course everything the character is doing is because of his dead wife however, this isn’t so much romance but more compassion and control.

...When looking at real media trailers I noticed that they all used a huge range of shot types so I wanted this to be reinforced in my trailer and my feedback shows its importance. So once again using real media conventions has enabled me to have a more professional finish to my trailer, with cinematography being key. Audio and content also got positive results. I thought audio would be the highest scoring because it portrays the mood of the whole trailer and of course the content is important. I worked hardest on the filming itself because I wanted to ensure I had professional clips that would be mirrored by the audio and obviously my peers believe this to be to correct way to go. With this feedback I know that if I was to do the trailer again, I would introduce more shot types and ensure the best quality shots I could possibly get no matter how long it took. Professionalism is not a media convention that I would challenge as it attracts and audience.

Following the media convention of violence I was pleased with the feedback I received. I did not want extreme violence in the trailer because I wanted a good balance of mystery and action and I really liked how people noticed the implied violence and topic loop as this was intended. I would not adapt the amount of violence used as this feedback is positive or constructively criticised.

...I wanted to challenge typical conventions of an action film trailer. As you can see I did this through the personality of the main actor; a typical action hero would be strong and level headed whereas my main actor has flaws and weaknesses because of the take over of his mind. This raises contemporary issues such as dealing with conflicting personalities (schizophrenia) and what to use as a coping mechanism for suffering. I believe that this enables the audience to emphasise with the main actor and therefore they take something away from the film rather than just thinking ‘wow that was full of action’.

...All of my feedback tells me that consistency is important when making a promotional package and it makes it recognisable. I did this through using the same font of ‘sierra madre’ throughout all three products. I also had the continuous theme of smart dress throughout. The tea cup is seen in both the poster and trailer and the vintage/old fashioned theme appears in the magazine and trailer and so they all coincide with one another. Consistency is something that I think to be very important because when a person see’s a particular font or combination of colours they will immediately relate this to a film.

When a person see’s this font they immediately associate it with the Godfather as it is that recognisable from being used on three promotional film packages. Many custom font websites literally name this font ‘The Godfather’. This shows the importance of consistency and constant use of one font.

By putting the name of the film at the beginning of the trailer you are introducing it too soon. The audience may watch the trailer then forget the name, you want the name to be the last thing they see and so I would always follow this typical media convention.

...After finishing my trailer I realised that it was nearly 1minute 40 seconds long all together; I was aiming for one and a half minutes so I was not that much over but I was concerned that it was too long for a teaser. Much of my feedback showed me that people did not realise it went on for that long which is good because it shows the audience being hooked on the action. Therefore, I am challenging the typical media convention of time limits with this teaser trailer which I don’t believe to be an issue because the content itself still does not give a lot away. The feedback tells me that people still had a lot of questions after watching the trailer which I was pleased bout because I wanted it to be though provoking as well as exciting. I think it would have worked just as well if I had used and developed the typical convention of time for a teaser but it was good to know that I can have the same effect by challenging them.

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Again challenging the idea of having a big ending actually paid off for me. This is where the thought provoking element came from and make the trailer have a deeper genre than just action, much like Sherlock Holmes. I liked how there was a topic loop because the beginning and end are both of a similar nature (very calm and collected) and the middle is action packed. As the feedback states, you could say my end title clip is the big finish because the loud drum and bass drops as it appears and this could startle the audience. It contrasts well with the previous collected tea party clip and I believe having the two side by side pleases people who prefer a calmer ending and those who prefer the shock element end. If I had followed the typical media convention of having a jumpy end I would have used diegetic shouting from the main character with something a long the lines of ‘I know you killed her’ because that way the thought element would have still been there.

I know how much of a huge role sound plays in a trailer and I wanted to make sure I had used it correctly. I thought I could have had more diegetic sound however, when I received my feedback I realised that people thought it may have been to much and I would have had to experiment to see what worked best. Development of sound is something I would definitely play with more if I was to do this again as I would ensure I have a greater understanding of audio levels etc before beginning and therefore having the ability to create loud yet clear sound levels. This is a very much opinion based question because different people believe different things work best, but all feedback helps and shows a range of ideas.

Similarities between my ancillary tasks and professional products

Centred anchorage

text and teaser to

draw audience

in.

Sell lines around image, not

overlapping so the eye is not

taken away form the image.

Both have a background to reflect the mood or style of film advertised. Sherlock Holmes is a very mysterious detective film seen through the smoky background and clothing and mine has themes of antique and old fashioned seen through the furniture, clothing and wallpaper.

Both include bar codes on the front page

Centred Mid shot of character

Title behind characters head. Shows importance.

Both close up to hide certain features to enhance mystery.

Both include a feature that suggests the genre (pointy teeth: horror, cut on face: action

Teaser quote to engage with audience.

Title in big bold font, mirroring colour scheme to enable it to be easily recognised

Release information.

Shadow to suggest mystery and darkness.

Conclusion.Overall, if people didn’t challenge real media products, every trailer would look the same and there would be no real interest from audience. Every trailer needs to differ from another whether it is through content, audio or editing: no two trailers should be the same. However producers know what works or what the audience like best (title scenes at the end, certain types of content for certain genres, some form of audio etc) so it is also important to use real media products. However using them does not mean copying them, you have to develop them to make them original and show that you are able to think outside the box. And that is what makes an interesting trailer. As you can see I used, developed and challenged media products in different ways and the results for many are quite positive. If I was to do this again I would experiment more with challenging media products to see just how far I could push boundaries.