WHAT WAYS DO YOUR PRODUCTS USE/DEVELOP/CHALLENGE FORMS & CONVENTIONS OF REAL MEDIA PRODUCTS?
In the horror genre, there are various conventions and attributes that can be found on media texts to do with the genre. As we made a poster, magazine front cover and a trailer, we had to research all of the key conventions that those different medium consisted of. A lot of these were attributes that can be found on products regardless of the genre they are made for such as a masthead on a magazine or credits on actor's names on a poster. However, there are some that are staples in the specific genre such as the use of eerie music in a horror trailer or a film strip containing images from the horror movie on a horror magazine. On this page, we will acknowledge all of the conventions in the horror genre that relate to horror movie, posters, magazines and trailers. We will then highlight the conventions we used in our final pieces and discuss why we chose to use them as well as what they add to the piece overall.
MAGAZINE CONVENTIONS
All magazines that are centred around a media text such as a movie share some standard conventions. These universal conventions can be found on any magazine that is related to a trailer regardless of the specific movie's genre or sub-genre.
STANDARD MAGAZINE CONVENTIONS
EXISTING MAGAZINE COVENTIONS
Here we have analysed an existing magazine and listed all of the conventions that it features and given a description of what those conventions do and how they impact the magazine.
INUNDATE MAGAZINE CONVENTIONS
After analysing an existing magazine, we decided to analyse the conventions that we used in our magazine compared to the conventions that are featured on the existing magazine.
CONVENTION COMPARISON
Here we have compared the conventions that can be found on an existing issue of 'Scream' magazine to our horror magazine. We also highlighted any conventions that are on one magazine but not on the other and discussed why we chose to use them.
UNIQUE CONVENTIONS (SCREAM)
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UNIQUE CONVENTIONS (DELIRIUM) |
WHY WE USED THE CONVENTIONS WE DID
We chose not to use these conventions for various reasons. The buzz word because we felt that our magazine advertised it's special features through other means such as the strap line and the coverlines. We chose not to use coverline images because we felt that our coverlines were very descriptive and were successful in advertising what each coverline and associated double page spread would contain. |
In terms of the conventions we decided to use, we also chose them for multiple reasons. We included a film strip because we wanted a way to show the reader more of what they could expect from the the magazine's main coverline. We also had a unanimous adoration for the convention and decided from an early stage that we would include it in our magazine. The QR code and Social Media Links are two conventions that are more common in modern magazines so we decided to use them to help advertise our team's website. The selling line helps to make our magazine look more official as it is a convention that is popular and can be found on many magazines
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POSTER CONVENTIONS
Similarly to magazines, posters based on a media text such as a movie all share different features called 'conventions'. Some of these conventions can be found on a poster regardless of the media text's genre or sub-genre.
STANDARD POSTER CONVENTIONS
EXISTING POSTER CONVENTIONS
Here we looked at an existing horror poster that is from the slasher sub-genre and analysed it's use of conventions, briefly discussing each one and explaining their functions and how they are used.
INUNDATE POSTER CONVENTIONS
After analysing an existing poster, we looked at our own and analysed the conventions that we used in our poster compared to the existing one.
CONVENTION COMPARISON
Here we looked at all of the conventions that the existing magazine we analysed earlier and our own poster shared and the conventions that were unique to each poster. We found that the existing magazine did not actually have any unique conventions which we feel is due to the time it was made (1996) and the fact that the more modern conventions such as website links did not exist or were not as prominent.
UNIQUE CONVENTIONS (INUNDATE)
Website LinkThe website link functions as a way to tell the reader where they can find more of your company's work. This is a modern convention that is becoming more and more prevalent in posters due to company's using tactics such as viral marketing to raise awareness for their product.
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Release DateThe release date tell the audience when they can expect to see the film being released and it function as a way to raise excitement for the film. In some cases, the actual date is replaced by a place holder such as 'Coming Soon'. This builds anticipation for the film without telling the audience when to expect it.
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ReviewsReviews function as a way to make the film that the poster is advertising look good. The reviews that are used on posters are usually from reviewers with a high status or fans that saw the movie early and have nothing but good to say about the film. Sometimes, reviews are accompanied by a quote from the reviewer.
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WHY WE USED THE CONVENTIONS WE DID
We chose to include a website link on our poster as a way to give the reader a way to find out more information to do with our film. We used this website link for our poster and were actually told by people we showed the poster to that they did not realise that the movie was a student project. For the release date, we chose to use the place holder 'Coming Soon' in an effort to make our poster look authentic without having to choose a specific date on which our film would have been released. Finally, we included reviews which we sourced from various people by asking them what kind of reviews would draw them in to watch a movie. We feel that this was a successful way to decide on what our reviews should include in terms of the quote.
TRAILER CONVENTIONS
In this section, we have analysed the horror trailer that was one of the main inspirations behind our trailer's creation. We talk about the conventions that the trailer contains along with the conventions our trailer uses and discuss their uses.
TRAILER ANALYSIS
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Scream is one of our personal favourite horror movies and the trailer has been a part of our creative process since the beginning. The effective use of sound and editing techniques caught our attention and helped influence the way our trailer was made. Scream is also in a similar setting to our trailer that being a suburban house while also containing a lot of similar stock characters to our film.
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In our trailer, we found that we used a variety of conventions that we found from multiple existing trailers including the Friday the 13th (1980) and Scream (1996). We focused on perfecting the timing for when sound was played to emphasis certain shots and make them more effective. The conventions we included were also very important as they helped with the overall flow of the trailer. For example, there being more captions at the beginning of the trailer but none during the montage section.
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TITLE
Near the end of both trailers, you can find a caption containing the film's title.
ESTABLISHING SHOT
At the beginning of both trailers, there is an establishing shot of the main location of the film.
CLOSE-UP OF MAIN PROTAGONIST
Both trailers contain close-up shots of the main protagonist in their homes.
SHOT OF FIRST VICTIM
There is a character in both trailers that becomes the victim of the killer's first appearance
SHOT OF STOCK CHARACTER SCREAMING
Both trailers contain a shot of the 'princess' stock character screaming.
CAPTIONS
In both trailers, you can find various captions about the trailer which help to accentuate certain shots. One of these captions also includes the film's credits and any secondary companies involved in the film.
SUB-GENRE CONVENTIONS
This section is dedicated to the conventions that are popular in our chosen sub-genre. There may be many conventions that are famous in the horror genre as a whole, but specific sub-genres only follow a selection of them because it helps to make each sub-genre unique despite them being within the same general genre.
SUB-GENRE - SLASHER
The slasher sub-genre is a sub-genre all its own as some of the conventions it conforms to are unique from most of the other sub-genres in the horror genre. These conventions are as follows:
THE FINAL GIRL
ALICE HARDY (FRIDAY THE 13TH 1980) |
The final girl in a slasher film is usually the most mature in her group of erratic, usually rude friends. Her role is to keep having near misses with death and escaping the antagonist time after time until she is the last protagonist left. Usually, she survives the ordeal in the end but in some films, she too is also killed by the antagonist such as in Friday The 13th (1980) |
THE ANTAGONIST/KILLER
The killer in slasher films play a very important role in the sub-genre. They usually have hidden identities throughout the film which in some cases can be revealed at the end like in Scream (1997). Their three main tropes are that they hide their identity through a mask of some sort, they each have an iconic weapon that they use as their preferred method of killing, and that they are usually silent which adds to their unsettling demeanour. |
LEATHERFACE (TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE 1974) |
THE LOCATION
HOUSE IN WOODSBORO (SCREAM 1996) |
The location in which slasher films take place are usually very large houses in the middle of a sub-urban area which is important because it seems like the kind of place the event of the film could never happen in. An alternative to this suburban environment could be somewhere that the antagonist experienced a traumatic event as a child such as Camp Crystal Lake in Friday the 13th (1980). The location is always somewhere with a low population which adds to the theme of isolation slasher films are famous for. |
THE LIGHTING
The lighting is slasher films is used to add tension to the film by keeping it very dark while accentuating the use of shadows to create an unsettling atmosphere. The use of low light and shadows connote mystery and trigger humanity's innate fear of the dark. |
FREDDY KRUGER (A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET 1984) |
STOCK CHARACTERS / YOUNG PEOPLE
MAIN CHARACTERS FROM SCREAM (1996) |
The stock characters are a collection of characters that conform to a few different categories regardless of individual back stories. These are: The Wanderer, The Popular Girl, The Jock, The Final Girl, The Stoner and The Token. They each act as different characters in the film but usually end simply being killed by the antagonist. The stock characters are usually stereotypical young people that conform to the social standards that are popular at the time of the film's creation. |
CONCLUSION
Conventions have always been one of the most considered topics when we were creating our final pieces. We had to filter through all of the possible conventions and select the ones that we both liked and would allow us to make the most successful practical pieces we could. In some cases, that even meant going against the grain and choosing some conventions that have not been used in film of our sub-genre before or are not as popular. We subverted these conventions and made them work for the overall a e s t h e t i c of our poster, magazine cover and trailer.