Evaluation Question 1 - In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

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

Still from Hunger Games

Establishing shot from my trailer

Before I produced my trailer, I had already carried out a lot of research on existing film trailers to help me get to grips with the typical codes and conventions of action/thrillers. I used sites such as youtube to help me do this. A main convention of thrillers I found was an establishing shot on what seem to be mysterious places. At 1.03 in my trailer, I filmed a panning shot of a field in black and white, the eerie effect it gives helps to create a mood. I also synced this shot with the music to help emphasise this effect. An existing example of this is in ‘The Hunger Games: Catching Fire’ trailer at 2.20. (https://www.youtube.c

om/watch?v=hmVi-GPUpy8). The shot is shorter in length and is more broken up but I think it still gives off an effect which draws the viewer in, giving a sense of unfamiliarity. 

Extreme close-up shots were also a classic convention so help convey emotion. At 1.20 in my trailer there is a ECW of one of my characters. The slight blur along with the downwards move of the camera  helps show his feelings as he is being beaten and is close to death and also to show him becoming unconscious. I got this idea from the season five trailer of ‘The Walking Dead’. Similar shots are used at 0.15 - 0.20 https:

ECW from my trailer

ECW from The Walking Dead

E
//www.youtube.com/watch?v=kgg656Z0ekE). This shot conveys personal feelings of a character which can help establish a character profile in the eyes of a viewer.

I noticed that in a lot of thriller trailers, black and white shots are used. The lack of colour helps to create tension. The use of black, white and grey is effective because they all connote with death and drama. Grey usually signifies lack of emotion as it is a very lifeless. I think I have challenged this typical convention by showing emotion in a black and white shot, containing a lot grey. At 1.10 in my trailer there is a classic example of this, especially when, as the viewer, you don’t see why the characters have surrendered, but as they've dropped their weapons, it signifies it is something very overpowering creating a lot of emotion. 

The poster I created is an image of one of the locations from my trailer. This sense of solitude works well as I don't think it gives away too much but still helps to portray to genre. An existing example of this is the poster for the film ‘Cloverfield’ http://www.dailyslandered.com/2012/11/blue-orange-actionadventure-movie-poster-trend/). Although it is not very frequent for action thrillers to do this, it is most suited for them compared to other film genres. The tagline on my poster ‘they took his brother, he took everything’ also doesn't give much away but still makes the film attractive. Once again ‘Cloverfield’ does the same with the tagline ‘some thing has found us’, hiding a key piece of information.

My magazine cover is quite different from typical thriller ones. I used an actor picture not a character one, normal for an upcoming actor who wants to promote themselves. An example of an actor based cover is this example of Premiere Magazine promoting Robert Pattison after his big break with Twilight. I added the classic necessity features such as a barcode and a price. This adds to the realism of the magazine cover. The publication reviews also add a sense of professional editing and also positive film promotion.