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

My film campaign involved me creating a teaser trailer, poster and magazine cover. To do this successfully, I had to research each media platform’s conventions and then the conventions in relation to the genre. By creating a campaign that used the conventions most efficiently, it creates the most realistic project.

I started by researching posters advertising films. This research was of all types of films, I was attempting to figure out the conventions of posters. I analyzed 5 examples of posters and made a list of all the conventions found. I will go through each convention and comment if I have challenged or used it.

The first convention that nearly every poster has is images. These can be images of the stars, characters or scenes from the film. The image on the poster is very important as without it, there is just writing, this will not engage the audience in the same way an image does. My poster used this convention, there is a central image, it is a blurred image of a man, the main character, and he is running. The image is eerie and attracts people to it, it engages with the audience.

However, Inception challenged this convention. They made posters early on in their marketing campaign, which had only writing, they read “Protect Your Thoughts”, and “Thought Theft is Real”. But this is very early on in the marketing campaign to get people thinking about the film.

Another convention that my media product uses is the use of reviews on the poster. Seeing that a well renowned newspaper or a popular website has recommended the film is a huge encouragement for people to watch it. This shows that critics, who are paid to judge a film, say it is good. My poster has reviews; an example of one is “A gripping thriller… absolutely electrifying”. Many posters also give star reviews from critics that, like reviews, give even more incentive for audience to see the film.

Taglines are very important on a poster. This can be taglines that reflect something about the movie, or its release date. On my poster, I use both. The tagline that reflects the film is “Don’t be part of their plan” which is the same as the trailer tagline to create continuity in the marketing. The other tagline simply says “summer 2012” which is vague due to the poster being released relatively early in the campaign. The release date is another convention that my poster follows.

One convention that nearly all posters use is the title. This should be the biggest font on the poster; it should be bold and clear so people can see it easily. Without this, the audience will not know what the film is called to go and see it. My poster uses this convention. The logos of the films distribution/production, and other companies involved in making the film are also conventions of poster which my poster uses. Usually with this comes the credits/which shows the cast and crew; this is a convention that my poster uses. Moreover, the website is also a convention that comes with this section of the poster; I give a website on my media product.

My media product also challenged some of the conventions of a poster. It challenged the use of eye candy in the poster; there is also no certificate (however this is due to the fact that the poster is meant to have been released early in the films campaign). It also challenges awards/nominations; there is no reference to other films, directors or merchandise.

The other aspect of conventions I had to look at for posters is based on genre. Looking at a number of thriller posters, I analyzed the main conventions that they had. One thing I found was they had a muted colour scheme. This is to create a sense of weariness for the audience; I felt this was effective so I used it in my poster using a dull blue as my background and just a white figure running.

Another convention is that characters are often running. This convention reflects a sense that the person is being chased and is under threat. This causes a feeling of fear for the audience. I used this convention with my prominent image being one of a man running. It is at a canted angle, which is another convention I found when researching thriller posters. This makes the audience feel uneasy about the situation.

The mise-en-scene of the poster is a convention. However, I did not stick to the mise-en-scene in terms of costume in my poster – I did not use a picture of a man wearing formal attire. My poster had an image of a blurred man, conveying ambiguity and anonymity so no particular costume was needed.

I also found that the tagline on the poster generally addresses to audience, engaging them. I used this convention in my poster with “Don’t be part of their plan”. This forces the audience to empathise with the characters.

The setting is in an urban environment. The character is running across a bridge of which you can assume is over a dual-carriage way. There is also a slight high angle used on the image to reflect weakness and vulnerability, this is another convention I have stuck to when creating my poster.

My next task to was to research magazine covers in order to use or challenge their conventions. Before deciding on a type of publication, I had to analyse a magazine cover to understand the layout and general content.

The first convention that my magazine cover uses is the use of an image. Nearly every single magazine cover will use an image, be it of a star, character or director – they all use images.

The next convention I used is the masthead. This is the biggest, boldest, clearest font on the page; it is also in the top third as this is meant to attract the audience’s eye.

Another convention used by many magazines is the use of banners. These are the circles or rectangular shapes that hold more information or offers on the cover. I used this convention advertising ‘The Complete Cameron’ exclusive – a banner is a good way to advertise articles or features that differ to others on the page.

Another convention that my poster follows is the referencing to stars and films. This is something that all film magazines have; this is advertising the main content. I used this convention by mentioning ‘Alex Steele’ the star of Blueprint, I also spoke of ‘The Bourne Legacy’ and the ‘Avengers’ both films of the same genre.

On all magazines, a convention that is not widely spoke of, but without it magazines would be impossible to sell are the issue numbers, barcodes and website. These 3 things nearly all magazines have and my magazine had to have this on it.

Now I understood the convention of a film magazine covers, I knew what type of publication my product would be (a mainstream) so I had to analyse what these magazines had in them.

Reviews are a convention that every film magazine (especially mainstream) has in them. It is one of the main reasons for buying the magazine and my media product has reviews, for example on ‘Avengers’. Previews are also a convention that I have stuck to, with the ‘Bourne Legacy’ being an example of one in my media product. Previews allow a sneak peak at a film very far in advance to its actual release.

Interviews are a main convention of mainstream magazines. With big Hollywood stars being involved in the type of films they promote, having an interview with a big name can bring in a huge fan base. My exclusive reads: ‘Max Steele reveals his Blueprint for Success’. Max Steele is the main character in blueprint who is a famous actor, without interviews like this; the audience would not want to buy the magazine.

A convention that my magazine cover challenges is the use of posters or competitions. Offering a free give away like a poster, or entry into a competition that could win a holiday to Hollywood is a very effective way of selling copies. However I did not use it, as I wanted my magazine to promote the conventions of a film magazine that are film related.

For my teaser trailer I did lots of research into the conventions that they all have. I analyzed many trailers and found these were the basic conventions:

· Production/Distribution Company Logos - for example Warner Brothers or Universal. This usually comes at the beginning.

This is a convention I used, my company logos were ‘Syncopy’, ‘Warner Bros’ and ‘Legendary’.

· Images from the film

An obvious convention, but one that should not be overlooked as without it, the audience has no idea what kind of film it is, who is in it and what it is about.

Title of the film

This was used in my film so the audience know what the film is called to go home and book tickets (although this is a teaser trailer and is early on in the films campaign) or find more information on it.

· Release dates (for a teaser this is likely to be 'Coming Soon' or something vague like this, rather than a specific date.

My trailer uses these conventions with a vague release date; this gets the rough time of release into the heads of the audience.

· Indication of genre - the intended audience should be clear (this is done through the music, voiceover and mise-en-scene)

In my trailer this is done through costume (the use of suits in antagonists is a conventions), weapons (especially guns which the audience feedback told me was an important aspect of thrillers), and cars (another significant convention.)

Use of cars

Use of guns and suits.

Website (usually always at the end)

This is used to give the audience a way of finding out more information about the film if the want. I used this convention.

· Voiceover man

This is a convention I challenged by not using it. At the beginning of my trailer there is non-diegetic speaking from a news reporter, but I felt my film was not ‘epic’ enough to justify the use of a voiceover man. All of the things I wanted to say came across well through my taglines.

· Editing - transitions often include flashes, quick fades and dissolves alongside more conventional cuts.

My trailer uses all of these types of editing. The changing in editing type and speed adds a sense of suspense and unease to the audience.

· Possibly cast, crew, director credits

I used this convnention as all trailer have this. They show nt only the cast.crew buyt laos give naothger chance for the company logos ot be shown and sound logos.

Possibly reference to other films (that this is similar to) or other films that have been directed/produced by the same people.

This is a convention I challenged as I felt my film did not need director who had previously directed famous films.

· Stars / names of the stars

I only used the name of stars in my credits/billing at the end of my trailer. As teaser trailers are so short, I thought it was more necessary to include as many images of the film as possible rather than the main stars.

· Reference to awards that cast/crew/film may have won or been nominated for (these may refer to other films).

· Music - make sure that it reflects the genre but also that it works with images

The music I sued starts off with a slow tempo, builds up, then goes into a fast tempo beat that is used to create suspense within the audience. This is a convention I followed.

· Tagline

I used a tagline in my teaser trailer. It is direct; to engage the audience and make them empathise with the characters.

· Quotes that reference other films - for example 'From the Director of...'

I did not use this as I did not have to time in my trailer due to the amount of shots.

· Sound effects

· I used many sound effects in my teaser trailer. I created the sound of riots at the beginning of the trailer using samples of fighting, fire and explosions to give a sense of authenticity. I also used impact sounds in between certain shots, for example when my tag line appeared.

· Eye candy

I attempted to have some ‘eye candy’ in my trailer in order to match conventions.