1. Question 1: In what ways
does your media product
use, develop or challenge
forms and conventions of
real media products?
2.
3. Title: THE CHASE
The title of a film provides the first initial impression. It should
encapsulate the film’s essence within a few words without giving
away too much. ‚THE CHASE‛ is the title of the trailer I created. I
chose this name because it simply states what the film is all about
in an obvious way; it is not cryptic or clever, it literally is a
simple statement explaining the narrative of the film. It is in
block capitals to portray the urgency of the event taking
place, but also from a practical point of view, it makes the words
to stand out in a bold fashion.
4.
5. Trailer: opening sequence
The opening sequence of my trailer is a 25 second
collaboration or montage of clips setting the scene for the
viewer; it explains the background of the story and
introduces the viewer to the main characters. This is
different to more conventional trailers as the characters
are known through the images on the screen and the few
sentences that are included. However in my trailer the
viewer is directly told about who the main characters are
and what role they will play, through the use of a voice
over. Therefore my trailer is already developing and
challenging the conventions of voice overs and character
introductions.
6. Split Screen
In order to inform the viewer of the ‘crisis’ in the trailer I wanted
there to be almost a sense of chaos and so I used quarter split
screens to show this. It looks like there is a lot going on and the same
problem ‚a man is following us‛ keeps being repeated reinforcing the
crisis. I hadn’t come across many split screens in trailers before but
when I saw the split screen in ‚The Dark Knight Rises‛ (shown below) I
knew I wanted to use one. The intensity of the explosion is heightened
by the split screen as it shows more than one angle making it look
bigger. After seeing this I knew I wanted to use a split screen of some
form to increase the chaotic feel I was after. So in this way I was using
and developing the split screen convention of real media products to
improve my own trailer.
7. Text
Most trailers use text to question the viewer and get them
thinking about the situation at hand, it helps to personalise the
trailer. I used this convention in a very similar way and asked a
question involving the title itself to tie everything in together. The
texts are sequenced one after the other extremely
quickly, almost flashing, not giving the viewer much time to read
it or take it in. This reinforces the sense of urgency and panic that
the characters are feeling therefore pushing the viewer to feel
the same emotions and therefore putting themselves into the
characters position, which will draw them into the trailer and
increase their want to see the whole film. I used this convention as
it is an extremely common feature in many trailers.
8. Website
At the end of most films
there is a website address
shown that is made
specifically for the film so
that the audience can go and
find out more about the film.
It is a form of further
advertising and generating
interest for the film. I
decided to use this convention
in my own trailer so that it
appeared more realistic.
9.
10. Poster Comparison
Image: Both images are
dramatic eye catching images.
The colours are different
however, there is a slightly
warmer feel about THE CHASE
poster as it uses gold colours
as opposed to the cold blues
and greys to The Woman In
Black poster.
Title: Both titles are bold and not
easily missed, apart from the
image they are the main focus of
the poster. Both are in white font
so that they stand out against the
dark backgrounds, however in The
Woman In Black poster there is a
glow effect around it which I
really like and would try out on
my own poster if I had more time
to improve it.
Credits: Both posters have
included a list of credits
and a website. This is a
typical convention I picked
up on and decided to use on
my own poster in order to
increase the authenticity of
the poster.
Names: On The Woman In Black poster
Daniel Radcliffe’s name is a main
focus as it is placed directly above
him in a bold font. This is a
convention I haven’t used on my own
poster as I felt that it didn’t quite
fit with the image and ended up
making the poster too cluttered.
However it works particularly well
for The Woman In Black poster as
the main actor is extremely famous
and so it is another form of
attracting viewers and fans.
Layout: The two posters
follow a similar layout
with the main character
being central to the
image and the title of the
film placed over them
and the credits below.
This is the standard
layout for many posters
and can create a
dramatic impact if done
with the correct type of
image and fonts.
11. I don’t think that my poster particularly
challenges the forms and conventions of
real media products, instead it uses
them in a very similar fashion creating
an authentic looking poster that could
be used to advertise THE CHASE film
effectively.
12.
13. FILM magazine
Creating the magazine was a fairly simple task as last year I
spent a lot of time getting to grips with Adobe Photoshop
creating a music magazine. Therefore when it came to creating
the film magazine I was aware of the typical conventions that
are necessary for a successful magazine. The little things such
as a barcode, website, date and price all contribute in creating
an authentic looking magazine. The layout of the page is simple
but effective and does not challenge the conventional
magazines it uses the same format.
I used a photo where the actress is in character as it enables the
reader to identify it with the film, but also because I noticed
that this is a common feature in film magazines and I wanted to
follow the conventions closely in order to create a realistic
magazine.
On the magazine I changed the font of ‚THE CHASE‛ my reason for doing this is that the
font I used in the trailer and poster was too delicate for the magazine, it was drowned
out by all of the stories and became lost. I used a much bolder font and highlighted
the word ‘CHASE’ and put it into italics to really emphasise the title even more without
over doing it. The words ‚Life Of Pi‛ are in orange, I did this for a couple of reasons; I
wanted to add more colour to the page so that it wasn’t too dull but also it links in
with the tiger in the ‘Life Of Pi’ film creating links to other films so that it is even
more clear this magazine is about other films as well, not just THE CHASE and
therefore it would attract more readers. The magazine is simple to follow and is not
challenging the conventions of a typical film magazine, instead it uses the conventions
to benefit it and increase the authenticity.