A2 Media Studies

The codes and conventions of any genre of movie, or in fact any media product, are extremely important in allowing the audience a media product is trying to address recognise that the product will satisfy their wants and needs. This will then allow them to appreciate the product itself and for the creators of the product to receive the recognition they deserve. These codes and conventions also make the product seem more sophisticated and professional making them seem more reliable in the overall job of satisfying a customer’s needs. I therefore used these codes and conventions in the hope that my products reached the same standards as a professional product. As a consumer I have experienced noticing these codes and conventions with all media products, for example in the case of films, I know that if I wish to watch a horror movie I will have to look for dark, menacing colours within the film poster, because of this I have realised on a more personal level how important codes and conventions are in trying to find suitable to a consumers want and needs. Throughout the project I researched a lot of existing media projects to find the same codes and conventions repeated within them which allowed me to become familiar with them. I was familiar with these codes and conventions enough to incorporate my own vision within them. I used the colour red throughout all three of my products, this is a conventional colour of horror as it symbolises evil, danger and death/blood. This would signal to my target audience that these products were specifically designed to satisfy their needs. Along with the dark colours of grey and black I used for the background of my poster. The dark background and distorted shadows of my background were inspired by the film poster of ‘The Orphan’ as it effectively let the audience know that there was something wrong with the child of the poster which is the same effect I wanted, due to the nature of my narrative. My magazine front cover became a little bit difficult in terms of sticking to codes and conventions while also promoting the horror film as I chose to create a generalised film magazine rather than a horror film magazine meaning I had to keep within a film magazine's conventions while incorporating horror film poster conventions to express what genre of movie the magazine is promoting. I kept to both conventions by using masculine colours as film magazines are generally focused at a male audience. That also allowed me to use the colour red which is also a convention of horror, so by doing this, I was able to cover both conventions effectively. As for my trailer, I pretty much followed conventions completely, with the use of a sting, eerie music, etcetera. The narrative followed conventions in the way that it started with an equilibrium and editing began to get faster as the trouble started arising, for example, a fast montage.Throughout my film trailer and ancillary tasks I did not challenge any codes or conventions because I wanted to use methods that had been tried and tested. They seem to work well throughout all three products so I didn’t see the need to challenge any conventions.

My film trailer keeps the mystery in the same way that 'Dream House' does. The equilibrium at the beginning is also similar to mine showing that the conventions of his works within existing media products as I actually went out of my way to see the film after coming across the trailer during research for my own trailer.

As a film trailer my own trailer fits the general conventions of a horror film trailer. It promotes the date the film is debuting which is extremely important to an audience’s want and need to see the film. It grabs their attention with the outline of a narrative while not revealing the whole truth about it meaning that there are gaps left which can only be filled by seeing the film which effectively promotes the film as worthwhile to see to the audience as it tickles their curiosity. While it also shows similar conventions used within other horror film trailers meaning that my target audience will be able to determine whether this film is for them or not. Such as an equilibrium, a fast montage, eerie music (that gains pace along with the narrative) and suggestive strap lines. The poster holds all the conventions of a horror film poster meaning that my target audience will be able to seek and identify my product with great ease and be reassured that this is what they want to watch, in other words, it will satisfy their wants and needs, as in the case of the trailer. The film magazine front cover carries on the use of horror film conventions meaning that an audience will be able to pick out this film from all the other that may be placed on the self according to their wants and needs. The film magazine front cover also allows the target audience to do some research on the film to see whether or not they should spend their time on money on seeing this film.

The film trailer on its own is not enough to promote the film effectively, even though it might be the most memorable. Having a film poster to go along with the film trailer means that the film has become a sort of a brand as an audience will be able to later buy this poster and place somewhere in their homes reminding them almost daily of the film. They may even begin to show their friends and families which in turn will entice more people to see the film. The poster will also reassure the audience of what genre the film is from as they will be able to determine this from the codes and conventions used within the trailer. The red on the main charters lips relates to the change in the main characters personality within the trailer enforcing the overall narrative and aiding to the audience’s curiosity as they want to find out what is wrong or what changes the girl. The poster will only tease them further as they don’t find out what happens in the trailer and then again in the poster. The ‘secret’ of the film will be heavily embedded into their heads making it almost impossible not to go and see the film in order to find out what happens. An audience may then turn to a film magazine to see whether it is worth going to see the film by referring to reviews. They may even be hoping for a little spoiler to ease their curiosity. My film magazine will not reveal any more of the narrative then the trailer did so that the audience will stay in a state of frustration due to not being able to find out what happens, this will therefore leave them the only choice but to go and see the film. Overall the trailer may cause a few people from the target audience to become interested in the film but with all three products this creates the film to become more of a mystery as it appears more regularly with the same amount of information as the last product leaving the audience dissatisfied until they see the film. This means that the film itself may become more memorable and play frequently on the target audience’s brains. A symbiotic link between all three products makes it easier for the audience to identify the film. I have used the main characters red lips throughout all three products in a hope to create almost a brand image. I was hoping to create the effect that when the audience saw red lips they would be reminded of my film because that would mean that my promotional package had cemented the film into the target audience’s heads.

I appealed to my target audience by using dark colours that connote evil and mystery throughout all three products to generate the commercialised image of a horror film and to reinforce the genre of the movie. This way it will tick all of my target audience’s boxes and allow them to make a decision to view the film. The use of red in the title in the poster, film magazine front cover and throughout the trailer also implies danger, blood and evil. The fact that this feature is seen throughout all three products allows a symbiotic link to be created meaning my target audience can not only refer to the trailer, in order to make an informed decision on whether to watch the film or not, but to the poster and film magazine front cover. This will draw the target audience in as the strong link between all products makes the film seem more legit. If it is worth producing a poster and displaying the film in a magazine then the audience can guarantee that they are most likely to enjoy the film. The strap line on the poster ‘She’s above average’ will relate to my target audience’s status as a student making the narrative more relevant to them and therefore more appealing as they will be able to connect with the narrative making it more horrifying. As this is what my target audience will be searching for to satisfy their needs. The strap line is seen again in the trailer creating a symbiotic link and therefore a stronger desire for my target audience to see the film.The moody expression of my main character on the film magazine front cover is designed to attract my target audience as they would know that this is a general convention of a horror film making the film relevant to them and therefore more appealing. While the trailer doesn't give the whole narrative away but instead gives away just enough to capture the interest of the target audience. The use of n equilibrium in the beginning indicates to the audience the genre of the film which will attract the right audience to my film. The dark lighting nearer the end suggests the corruption of the equilibrium which will appeal the target audience as this is a main feature I horror films and what they will be looking for.

My film targets fifteen to twenty-three females who are in some form of education as they will be able to relate to the narrative on a more personal scale. They enjoy watching horror films alone or with friends so they are able to pick out conventions of a horror film because they've watched so many. In order to gain an insight on what my target audience was thinking I constructed a questionnaire, about my three products, which I thought, would probe them to answer honestly. I used social medias such as BlackBerry Messenger and Face Book in order to connect with my target audience in a way that is familiar with them.
I gained very honest answers from this, because they can supply their opinion without dealing with the awkwardness of criticizing someone’s work directly in front of them, with one of the candidates suggesting that ‘I would focus on her eyes and give them a scary look thus invoking a reaction in the audience, plant fear from the onset.’ another candidate said that the strap line makes her think of a girl who has been out casted but is ‘some sort of genius’. This answer has made me think that if I made the eyes look more supernatural then it would have related to the genre better. However this may have also given away too much of the narrative so I think I have found a comfortable middle. One candidate did say that it ‘Looks really professional, as if it’s already hit the cinemas.’ This is something I was hoping to achieve. In terms of my Film magazine Front cover I asked a few people via Face Book the general opinion was that the layout was good. One candidate said the title grabs her attention and that she would buy the magazine to satisfy the ‘film-geek’ within her. The use of sell lines will draw in my target audience to satisfy this need within them.

Researching ideas and techniques for creating my products was the most enjoyable part of the whole project. I was able to use the internet in order to research existing media texts and see codes and conventions in use in real situations. This inspired me to use the same conventions in order to create products that had a professional edge to them. Google images was my main research tool when it came to searching for existing film magazine front covers and posters and I was able to gather a lot of different types of each from different horror sub-genres.
You Tube became extremely useful when it came to researching other horror film trailers and a lot of the secured the use of conventions in my head. I also used You Tube in order to find different types of music to go in my trailer. There were also many helpful ‘How to’ video’s which showed me how to create cuts and grazes (even though this was eventually written out from my narrative).

I went on then to watch actual horror films to help form a narrative and see how it related to the trailer. I noticed that some trailers contained footage from the film but never revealed the whole narrative. This is what I hope to achieve as well. A very useful tool was that of social Medias, in the way I was able to ask my peers and members of my target audience their preferences when it came to horror films. I was able to get a direct honest opinion due to this. I displayed all this research on a blog. I think this allowed me to become more creative with my work as I could include you tube videos, images and actual evidence of practice shots or gathered research such as questionnaires. In order to take practice shots I had to use a camera and a video recorder. I was already accustomed to using these but I had to begin to use them in a different way in regards to angling them to get the shot I wanted. I had to keep in mind the types of shots that I needed within my trailer, for example, a medium-long shot. I also used cameras and video recorders to take shots from my poster and film magazine front cover. Again I had to learn to use the lighting and angles in order to gain what I hoped to achieve. I then had to use a video converter so that my files would be able to work on Adobe Premiere Pro CS4. Learning this program was difficult but I eventually got the hang of it with help from teachers and YouTube videos. This allowed me to add effects to my trailer such as transitions effects like ‘dip to black’.

This meant that my trailer had a more professional look to it. In terms of my poster and film magazine front cover I had to use Photoshop. My skills from year 12 aided in this however my experience in year 13 only expanded these skills so that I was able to create a more elaborate product. I learnt how to use the 'smudge tool' effectively in order to create the mysterious background to my poster. I was quite pleased with the result. In both the magazine front cover and poster i had to brighten my character's red lips using the 'paint tool'. This proved difficult as i had to re-do it several times in order to make it look genuine.

All in all I enjoyed this project very much and appreciate the skills I have gathered along the way.