1. 1. In what ways does your media
product use, develop or challenge
forms and conventions of real
media products?
By
Daniel Martin

2. While researching the horror genre for ideas for my final
product I also used similar codes and conventions that
would identify my product as a horror film. Thus in my
trailer and posters, I have used similar conventions such
as set in the night-time and similar to Halloween there
are some shots from the point of view of the villain. Some
similar imagery is used, especially in the posters and
magazine front covers, while some shots may be cliché
they are simplistic and still have chilling effects on the
audience. I have been inspired by films/trailers I have
researched, I still have remained open to ideas and I
believe that have created a unique story with some
memorable shots.

3. Comparisons of the Trailer
The Image freezes to resemble a photograph. For Texas Chainsaw Massacre it reinforces the
idea that is an actual past event and is part of a crime scene. I took this idea as I thought it
was a clever technique however, I altered this in my trailer. I made it with a voice over from
the antagonist. Not only was it a device to make the trailer have a sinister atmosphere, it
was the implication that the stalker films and takes photographs of her. I hoped to cross this
over with a poster that I intended to create- by having the stalker with a shrine of
her, including photos and her belongings. This didn’t happen as I couldn’t create the set
that I intended and the actress was unavailable. This technique is used in horror films to
create a realism which I was inspired to use. I believe I was successful in recreating this but
the sound of the camera would have made the audience understand what happened.

4. While it has become cliché to make the implication that the killer is about to touch the
victim it still seems to impact on the audience after I tested the trailer for them. It
seemed creepy but they expected it as it has been repeated through many horror
films. It was one shot that automatically came to mind in the storyboarding of the
trailer. Yet it does suit the plot of the trailer perfectly and I actually had the actor
touch her hair but the next two shots were expected by the audience when she turns
and no one is there. It creates a suspenseful atmosphere and I was concerned that this
might create the implication of a supernatural force, which I wanted to go against as
that has happened in most horror franchises to date.

5. While thinking of ideas for my trailer, a friend directed me to ‘when a stranger
calls’ I was inspired from the idea that the call came from inside the house. It is a
clever was to let you know of immediate danger. Plus, stalkers have been known
to leave text messages and phone the victims. I was considering using text but I
didn’t want to risk the chance of the audience not being able to read it. The scene
did get the point across that the call was inside the house however, the scene did
take to long and should have been edited to a finer point. I wanted to get the idea
of the stalker in the house by him calling first then hanging up. The scene is long
but still contains the elements that I wanted to appear

6. Psycho is one of the most popular horror/thriller film to date and I took inspiration from it at once when
thinking of ideas for my Stalker project. The most personal moment of the victim is when their exposed
and vulnerable. However because it would be obvious where the idea came from if the stalker came in
with a knife, I decided to do my own twist that would make my production unique. One aim of my
production was not to include any blood or gore as it have been overdone and used in nearly every
horror film and their trailer counterparts. I believe that a scary film can be created just my implication
and suspense which has been done rarely. For my trailer I instead decided that the next shot would be
that the victim would be fully dressed in the bath. Thus creating the implication that the Stalker has
dressed her while she was asleep. It violates her personal space and is terrifying thinking that there was
someone there. A cliché shot of a message on the mirror was not original but still sends the same
message, I was disappointed with the shot as I had difficulty getting steam on the mirror and it is
difficult for the audience to read even after attempts at editing it. I think this worked well as it was
unexpected and it was done only through implication.

7. • There are some films, not just horror that create the
illusion that the filming all done from a handheld camera
that gives the perspective that it is from one of the
characters point of view. I believe I have developed this in
the beginning of my trailer by giving the idea that this was
footage at party, and as the frame freezes with a voice
over, it’s to give the implication that it was the stalker that
took the footage which adds to the mystery of who the
stalker is. The development of the idea is that it is the
antagonists perspective, this creates mystery and also the
creepy atmosphere as the footage is mostly of the victim.

8. • Many horror films feature heavily in Blood, gore and
nudity. I planned to challenge that convention by
having non appear in my trailer to show you can create
a atmosphere of fear without these conventions. I
believe that I have succeeded in doing so, this scene in
particular. There is no need for blood and gore as the
element of fear is created by the fact that the
antagonist has been here before and dressed her.
Mysterious and creepy without the need for the
normal conventions.

9. • Most of the audience’s favourite part is in the final montage, when the
trailer speeds up in a final dramatic (sometimes action) sequence with
music to correspond with it. In my research I discovered that this
convention was the same for horror trailers. I took main inspiration from
the trailers of the reboots for Texas Chainsaw Massacre (2003) and A
Nightmare On Elm Street (2010). While following the conventions and
inspiration from existing horror trailers, I also used my ideas to make it
unique and create a suspenseful atmosphere. Here we see the stalker
attack, looking at the victim while she sleeps and a hand on the window.
All these create suspense as the audience are curious as to what happens
next and this is all done without blood or gore. Plus the final moment
when we see the stalker and hear him breathing which hopefully leaves
the audience wanting more.

10. Magazine Plan
I decided on a simple layout for my
magazine cover because while the
technology was easy to use I felt
unfamiliar with it and decided not to
do too much with special effects for
it. I thought the simple conventional
layout of a magazine would be
obvious to the audience so instead I
focused on the image used, the
masthead and the other features
placed around the magazine.

11. This image is of a knife in front of a
knife. A simplistic shot but one that has
iconography throughout the horror
genre, as the shot of the weapon just
before the kill. The most famous shot
would be from Psycho(1960). I actually
took the inspiration from the film
poster for Rob Zombie’s second
Halloween film. The idea of the knife
weapon being raised hints directly to
the horror genre. I Thought the lighting
would help amplify the image but I was
disappointed with the results, as the
steel cannot be scene and the outline
may be misinterpreted as a stick of
French bread.

12. The second image is similar to my first idea of
the knife. The iconography contained with in
it that links to the horror genre. For this
image I decided to focus on the knife, the
hoodie links to the film because it is the
same worn by the stalker. I thought edit the
image by having other images taken from the
trailer to appear out of the knife like faded
memories. However, It was complicated to
get the images the way which I wanted and I
thought it didn’t fit in. So I decided on
keeping it the same way, audience feedback
like the image the way it is. I attempted to go
back on Pixlr to get the image I wanted but It
was difficult to transfer it onto Photoshop

13. This image may appear to be
cliché, especially for magazines advertising
a horror film, as there are many covers
that show the victim or the antagonist
staring at the audience. However while it
has been done repeatedly I still think that
it is effective. Especially with the torch
highlighting the features of the face
making the image more sinister. Also the
victim wearing the stalker hoodie was
intentional as it was trying to put across
two characters in one and implies that
even the she could be the stalker herself.
The dark lighting emphasise the character
in the front, a similar technique used in
many film magazines advertising a horror
film

14. Posters
This was my first attempt to create a poster as well
as my first attempt with the software pixlr.com I
found the software easy to use and I enjoyed
experimenting with the fonts and the image. I was
very happy with the effects I had done with the
image, making the face the only thing with colour.
This creates a sinister tone. The title was before I
decided on a final design for my poster but I thought
to keep it in so not the distract the audience. More
recent film posters follow
I did experiment with other posters but followed a similar design
to the others that I had created so the audience would know what
the film is and looked as if they linked together and wasn’t
disjointed. I did follow the poster conventions in the layout form
but mostly I took the ideas of the more recent film posters of
having social networking sites for the audience to learn more.
Also the type of font used for the main as well as what is included
to make it seem like a realistic poster. However, while I have
followed film poster conventions I believe the image, tagline and
the main text is original and I believe it is what makes my horror
film unique.

15. Challenged forms and what makes my
trailer unique
One of the dominate conventions of horror seems
to be blood and gore. Which appears in nearly
every horror films as well as the trailers. To
challenge this convention I simply built up tension
in the trailer. Creating a sinister atmosphere simply
using implication to allow the audience to think
what could happen. Plus in my idea I thought using
blood would be messy and take a lot of time to
make, so instead I thought of creating my trailer
without it, which turned out at be just as effective
without it.

16. While filming the party scenes and the scene in the
hallway, I added the footage that could have been
bloopers or footage used when the actors thought
the camera was of. This is because it created a more
realistic portrayal of the characters and it was a
good thing to address the camera. Horror films
make it seem as if the camera is not on, but I think
it was clever to have words like ‘action’ because it
addresses the camera and give a real idea of what
the characters of the age group are like

17. The main fear factor the of the trailer was the
idea that it could actually happen in real life to
anyone. This does not imply that the audience
will have an event like a horror film but it is
something very real. It doesn’t need to be about
blood and gore but the thought that there is
someone there or someone in a very personal
setting which shows that fear can come out of
the very little things but is terrifying because it
suddenly getting very personal to you.

18. Characters
I chose the main character to be the same age
range as the audience and also female, this is
because it follows the general convention of a
female protagonist. Plus females are often
used in horror films as they are thought to be
easier to sympathise with. For the trailer I did
not reveal a name or more detail about her
which inadvertently turned her into a more
two dimensional character, the main aim was
to leave the impression that the victim could
be anyone.
The friends in the film only appear for a short
amount of time but are just their to identify
the age range but still lock into the horror film
stereotype.
She can be identified as the protagonist and
the hero character.
The antagonist of the film was just identified as the
stalker, after researching the many iconic horror villains I
used the similar technique of having the antagonist’s face
hidden. Thus creating fear in the audience as they do not
know who it is. However in an attempt to make my
production realistic, I simply used a hoodie that hid the
wearer’s face. The actions created fear and a creepy
atmosphere which suited the purpose. There was no need
for violence or blood but just the presence that made the
character.
Following horror films such as Scream or I know what you
did last summer, I created the character to act as a horror
mystery for the audience to guess who the stalker was. In
the trailer I made several implications to who it was from
implying gender to the victim herself.

19. Genre: Horror
• The Horror is optimised by the fear factors. By this everything links
together to create a certain atmosphere that links directly to the genre.
My products followed this by using dark lighting, and implication of blood
by the typography. For the trailer I used the idea of the victims house, this
makes it very personal to the victim as someone has forced them into the
victims home. The music follows the genre as it has use of strings for an
eerie impact but use of percussion to create and more violent tone.
The camera angles for the genre rand from wide shot to get in everything to a
close up to get the audience very close to the character. Rapid shots create
disorientation which is normally used in scenes of panic and engage the
audience.
The posters follow similar conventions by emphasising the protagonist or
antagonist, I did the same by emphasising both characters and for two
posters I only needed to create the atmosphere and mystery which acted as a
bait and hook. An element of mystery has been introducing itself into the
horror genre for decades. The magazines act similarly to the poster in creating
the atmosphere and again using similar dark colours and blood typography.

20. One key aspect is the main title, which I
thought of the one word ‘stalker’ as it is
bold and automatically means to the
audience something sinister. I created the
title in pixlr.com which was very helpful in
doing so easily. I do think that the title is
unique and I doubt there is one like it but I
do realise that I have followed the horror
convention to have the writing in blood.
Though it may be cliché, the audience
automatically know what the genre is and
what the film implies.
For my production company logo, I had already
chose the name which I don’t think is an
existing company. The rest was simple to create
as it would not appear heavily. I just used the
themes of the cinema such as the red colour
and the camera which introduces the regal idea
of what the cinema is. I thought best to use the
concept of cinema so it wasn’t applied to just
one genre. The term ‘masterstroke’ means a
skilful act which is an adjective used for films
that have impressed audiences and critics. I
liked the idea and took a risk with it. In the end I
thought it was successful and unique.

21. Conclusion
I followed conventions of horror so the audience
would identity my products within the genre, I
then developed ideas and challenged certain
conventions to make my products unique. By
being inspired from the Horror films themselves
to explore the different ways which this can be
portrayed through the different media. Using my
own ideas it think that these developments
made my products successful and achieved good
feedback from audiences