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Question 1:

In what ways does your media product use develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media
texts?
Trailer:
The research that I complete before commencing into the production stages of
my task was completing a MIGRAIN (Media language, Institution, Genre,
Representation, Values and Ideologies, Narrative) analysis of film trailers, where I
was able to decode the conventions used in order to portray the genre and sub
genre of Supernatural Horror. Conventions which were later used as inspiration
and in constructing my final product, making sure that it reflected that of real,
professional media texts. A trailer that I researched which had an impact on our
end product was The Conjuring (2013) which was directed by James Wan, who
was nominated for many award for this successful horror film. I used this trailer
as inspiration for the structure of the narrative and the music which was used.
For example, I was able to start the trailer following stage one, the equilibrium,
of Todorovs narrative theory. As this was done in the contemporary text it
allowed me to follow the conventions used in real media. additionally, during this
stage the music did not necessarily juxtapose the action, only when we reached
the disequilibrium did the music and the action work well in creating a sinister
atmosphere, making the audience on edge but most importantly representing
the genre of the trailer.
In presenting our antagonist we decided to develop this convention as we did not
want to mimic the convention used in The Evil Dead (2013) therefore, I thought
that it would be a lot more effective for us to verbally express this, as the
antagonist is not a tangible character and cannot use costume or body language
in order to portray their character. Therefore, we had to conventionally use music
in conjunction with the diagetic sound of the protagonist talking in order to make
the audience weary of the ancient book and question it just as the protagonist
do. Additionally, just like many horror film trailers that we researched they
created a build up to the antagonist and present that character to us in low key
lighting. This, therefore makes the audience weary of the object that is being
presented and this can similarly be found in the professional media text The Evil
Dead (2013). Furthermore, we found that this was a good way of establishing
Levi-Strauss theory of Binary Oppositions, as through the dialogue the audience
can decode the progressive teenage, Jess and the regressive teenager, Sage, as
Jess says Dont touch it! and Sage responds with Its just a book. This therefore
presents one teenager who is worried about the trouble she may get into and
never really takes any risk, however Sage acts as her binary opposite as she
does not really care, and is able to take risks with her actions, which is a counterstereotype as many text present Goth characters this way, defy the submissive
boundaries previous stereotypes have confined women to. Furthermore, they are
able to establish their difference as within 20 seconds of the trailer beginning, we
can see from Barthes Proairetic code, that the characters do not know or like
each other, again reinforcing there differences. Additionally, during this stage of

the trailer, the audience are able to identify the book as the Villain, as they can
identify 1/8 character types Vladimir Propp identified.
A character which frequently appears in Horror films, Supernatural and
Psychological Horror is the strong minded Gothic character, who takes an interest
in Witchcraft and the supernatural and by incorporating this character into our
media text allows us to follow the conventions of horror films and other hybrids
of this genre. Although, this is a progressive representation of women, we still
give our intended demographics the opportunity to recognise this character as
type of character is presented in many historical and contemporary horror films
such as The Craft (1990). For a media literate generations who often access and
utilise the proliferation of Web 2.0 they are able to recognise this character as
she is presented on many different social media sites, as there is a Vine called
Emos can dance, a Gothic Japanese Anime, Gothic teenager who appears in the
TV drama Eastenders, and a woman who presented herself on Tumblr. We were
able to follow this construction of the Gothic character by making efficient use of
her costume. In order to present how she conforms to a counter-stereotype of
the Gothic character, I compared her to the well known historical character
Nancy from The Craft. They both wear a harsh make-up as Sage, has harsh black
eye liner around her eyes and a dark plum lipstick which is a recognisable
combination of the Gothic character which our target audience will be able to
decode. They both have jet black hair, now although, the actor playing Sage, had
naturally light brown hair, it was conscious decision that she should wear a wig in
order to successfully conform to this character. Additionally, you can also see
that they both are wearing a chocker around their neck which is a clear signifier
of her Gothic nature. Although, she is wearing school uniform you can still
decode her rebellious nature as, my character Jess, is wearing a entire school
uniform whereas Sage, does not she has abandoned it in order to portray her
negligent attitude. As we have attempted to create an accurate representation of
the gothic character, our construction becomes verisimilitude as the constant
representation, can be recognisable in society and will almost become realistic
making it sense as though, all Goths are presented and behave the same way
Sage does. As a result of her strong costume and relevance to our chosen genre
I have decided to integrate this character into the front cover of my film
magazine.
During the montage scene, we have decided incorporate the rune symbol into
the trailer a bit more, as this heightens and solidifies the idea of the ancient book
being the antagonist of the film. It is a common convention, which I found during
the MIGRAIN research of film trailers that it is common for trailer to frequently
present the effect or the antagonist toward the end of the film trailer as they
have reached stage two Todorovs narrative theory and additionally, it is a good
way of creating the enigma and encouraging the chosen demographics to go and
watch the film. Therefore, we decided to use the rune symbol during the
montage scene almost having it act as a transition between shots but
heightening the fact that we have reach the disequilibrium stage. Additionally, it
is conventional for the trailer to become very jumpy and distorted this is the
convention we have decided to follow in our film trailer, allowing it to compete

with other professional media texts, a convention which can be found in the
Supernatural Horror film Sinister (2012). This symbol we have encoded as the
signifier of our antagonist and is therefore the audience to decoded. In addition,
my group has chosen to present the antagonist in our ancillary text in order
reinforce the Villain or the antagonist.
We have also developed the conventionally black background, which can be
found in many film trailers, but in many ways we are conform to some of the
conventions used in Horror film trailers, as through my research I found that it
was conventional to not use the black background as in the historical film The
Grudge (2004) they have used an off-white background in order to convey and
reflect to their audience, the antagonist of their film. This is what we have tried
to achieve in our film magazine by following the conventions of Horror film
trailers. Although this kind of convention is not necessarily common throughout
general film trailers, we have been able to develop this and use it as a way of
reflecting our subgenre and the antagonist of our film, as we found that this was
a clear way of heightening the antagonist. This was also presented in my film
poster and I have decided to keep this theme reoccurring through the main and
ancillary text.
Poster:
In the production stages of creating my ancillary text, I have decided to apply the
rule of thirds into the text ensuring that my products will reflect that of
professional media theatrical film posters. The MIGRAIN research that I carried
out which you can find the on my blog (a link will be provided at the bottom of
this blog post) on professional film posters, I found that many of they used Low
key lighting in their portrayal of the antagonist, although this did not see the
entirely the case for the Sinister (2012) film poster I used to compare my
ancillary text with. My research found that, horror films and especially,
Supernatural horror film used low key lighting in conjunction with the portrayal of
the antagonist or protagonist. The research I did during the preproduction stages
allowed me to have a clear idea about the type of lighting I wanted for my shot
and the effect of the shadow I wanted when the image was placed on top of my
film poster, emphasising Propps theory of the Villain, character type. From these
findings I was able to formulate a basic idea about the structure and conventions
I wanted my product to follow.
In the top third of the film poster, I have placed the title of my film Morte
Aeterna, in bold writing, a font which is similar to the one use in Sinister (2012),
The Conjuring (2013) and Annabelle (2014) they both use a very rustic and
traditional text which aids the historical content that can be found, i.e, the spirit
that is trapped in the house, or with our film, the ancient witch book. This allows
us to follow the conventions used by Supernatural Horror films. Therefore
through this text the audience are able to decode the meaning and history
behind the text, as our target audience is young, we have made the assumption
that they may have watched a broad range of films and as a result of this they
will be able to decode the genre of our film.

In the bottom third of my film poster, I have placed the credit block, which I have
tailored to suit my film and give audience a little insight into the production
behind the text. This therefore allows me to conform to the conventions of other
film posters. Additionally, if this was a teaser trailer then it would not be
conventional for me to have a credit block on my film poster. Directly
underneath the credit block can be found the coming soon sign, my Ident and
the age certificate. All of which are conventional features, which can be found
not only in Horror film posters but in all theatrical film posters. Sinister also
incorporate this and in the bottom third of their film poster, although they have
decided to include extra information such as their Facebook and Twitter page
along with their website, they are information we have decided to leave out of
our film poster as we wanted the focus to be primarily on the main image. By
including an age certificate I am following the rules given by the regulatory
bodies as they state there must be a guideline to the content of the film.
As I have not used direct address in the main image it allows me to follow the
conventions used in real media text, especially Sinister. Although my characters
body language appears as though she is facing forward, the audience are unable
to distinguish my character, Jess eyes as all one can see is black covering her
eyes. This is a similar to the one image used on the Sinister (2012) film poster
as she is not facing the front or looking directly through the lens of the camera.
This is similar to the other professional film posters such as Babadook (2014),
The Evil Dead (2012) and The Conjuring (2013), all of which belong to the
supernatural sub-genre.
I have challenged the conventional black background which is commonly used in
many of the films that I had researched in my MIGRAIN analysis such as
Annabelle (2014). The reason why I decided to challenge the convention black
background is because it was a good way of presenting the antagonist of the film
to my chosen target audience, as they are able to decode my construction of the
parchment paper in conjunction with the red runes which has become a
reoccurring motif as the antagonist/Villain of the film. Additionally, if they have
watched my film trailer they will be able to make a connection between the two
products and understand that the background is the signifier of the films
antagonist.
from the research that I carried out there was a range of shots that were used in
order to portray the antagonist of a film, I carried out this research because I was
unsure of what shot would be suitable for my magazine in order to effectively
encode a message to my targeted audience. By gathering a range of shots that
were used in professional film posters it allowed me to develop an idea of the
type of shot I wanted to use and that would be effective for my target audience
understand the information we have encoded and as a result of successfully
creating an enigma they will go and watch the film in order to suppress that
feeling. I have decided to develop the convention of the close up and the midshot that a mass majority of film posters use as I did not find it was an effective
way of portraying the effective of my antagonist to the audience. Additionally, it
wouldve been hard for the audience to identify the body language of my

character if I had used a close up or a mid-shot, and by using this type of shot it
looks a though, the protagonist is coming out of the page, as the there is a
shadow casted behind her, also the medium long shot allows me to clearly
portray the parchment paper, mimicking the structure of an ancient book. This
would have been a lot harder to construct if I had used a long shot or a medium
close up and it would of take more with of the page, blocking the background
and ultimately cutting out my construction of the antagonist.
Film Magazine:
The first thing which captures the audiences attention immediately is the central
image and it is very striking and you are able to see the features and make-up of
the characters face. The striking image will draw in the audiences attention and
encourage them to purchase the magazine. Additionally, have the model in
character allows me to follow the conventions used in real media text especially,
the conventions used in film magazines and they would always incorporate an
actor in character, which as a result helps to promote the film whilst capturing
the attention of an audience who have already seen the film and want to know
more about the actor. The fact that she is wearing what she is wearing
predominantly in the beginning of the film trailer allows her to be identifiable to
those who have already watched the film but would also bring in a new audience,
who are interest in the representation that she portrays in the film, and are
intrigued in the new school girl representation. In addition to this it is unlikely for
you to see a medium close up used of the protagonist of the film magazines as
the image I have taken from Film In magazine uses a medium long shot which is
commonly used in a lot of magazines not just film magazines. I have decided to
challenge this convention as it I thought it would be more effective for the
audience to see the protagonists make-up and her intense facial expression; it
looks a lot more effective using this shot as you feel closer to the protagonist as
you can see her face clearly. Furthermore, the use of direct address allows for my
magazine to reach out to the audience and encourage the purchase the
magazine and see the film. I found that this was conventionally done as the Film
In magazine which I refer to, uses direct address. This is done throughout all
magazine not just film magazines.
I have conventionally placed sell lines either side of my central image allowing
me to conform to the magazine industry as a whole rather than just conforming
to film magazines. And it is also common to find the sell lines are written in the
same font which is commonly used in film magazines but it also anchors the fact
that this is a horror special magazine. Additionally, with the most important sell
line it is conventional for a magazine to use a different font, larger writing or a
different colour in order to attract the attention of the intended target audience. I
have put the character, Sages real name Evie in italics and it is presented in a
bigger font in comparison to the rest the of the sell lines. This therefore, draws
attention to that corner and also adds a feminine touch to the magazine which is
really beneficial as it my primary target audience is 16-24 year old women. By
me using italics it does make my ancillary text challenge some of the

conventions that is found on professional magazines as it not commonly used,


instead they use very bold text.
The masthead of my film magazine is written in a different font to everything
else on the front cover. I have conventionally placed it on the top third of the film
magazine. Beside the masthead I have placed the strap line; UKs leading film
magazine, this is conventional as it is place in a similar place to the Film In
magazine. Beneath this can be found the website and the date and also reads,
Lights Camera Action which is what the magazine stands for. Like all other
magazines, I have conventionally kept a house style running through. I have
developed this as I have not use bold and bright colours such as orange and
electric blue, instead I have used White, Red and Blue. I have conventionally
placed at the anchorage text at the bottom third of the magazine and it is
conventionally writing in a similar font to the one used in Film In. And directly
underneath it I have included Behind the scenes of the hit new horror which
includes buzzwords in order to encourage my intended demographics in order to
go and watch the film.

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