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

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. The Chase

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.