Evaluation 1 - In What Ways Does Your Media Product Use, Develop, Or Challenge Forms Of Conventions From Real Media Products?

 In What Ways Does Your Media Product Use, Develop, Or Challenge Forms Of Conventions From Real Media Products?

Frame 1 is a stereotypical trailer convention as it shows the production company logo, Mortem Productions in a grey font, with the devil icon, and a black background. This is a stereotypical trailer convention as all of the trailers i researched either began, or not too long after, presented the production company name/logo on the screen. Therefore we felt this was necessary to include. We also decided on these colours due to the research in which i did on Se7en, where you can see the use of red intertitles presenting the seven sins, proved very effective. We decided on red, because it has the connotations of blood, and danger, and this accompanied by the use of a devil proved effective. The colour black was a large theme also in every trailer which i researched, including that of The Silence of the Lamb's, and Psycho, as these primarily used this colour to connote the idea of darkness and evil, which links into the convention genre convention of silhouettes and shadows. We decided on grey also, as we felt its connotations lie in-between the lines of good and bad, and have a mysterious elements, therefore we felt this was a good metaphor for Paul Leigh. The colour grey is seen in The Silence of The Lamb's to portray the character of Hannibal Lectur, as in the film, he appears to be an anti-hero. Therefore i feel the colour grey is a common colour associated with the genre, as it presents the connotations of mystery, and blurriness.

 

Frame 2 somewhat conforms to the stereotypical genre conventions when it comes to the use of shots seen. For example, frame 1 also uses a stereotypical close up shot of our protagonist, as i found in my research that close up shots are extremely effective in creating empathy, and understanding a characters facial and feelings in a scene. This was seen in the breakdown of The Silence Of The Lamb's trailer. as often close ups were shown to signify the emotion she is feeling when in contact with Hannibal Lectur. Throughout our trailer, we used a various amount of different shots, for example we used a longshot to locate the audience, so that they know where the action is taking place. For example we used a longshot of Paul Leigh in the park. I found longshots very effective when it came to establishing the setting throughout my research, for example a longshot is seen in Psycho to show the female protagonist is in an isolated house. We also used a low angle shot of Paul Leigh. We felt this challenged the usual genre conventions as low angle shots are usually used in thriller genre films to portray people as being powerful, and in charge. However, we used our low angle shot to emphasise that Paul Leigh is depressed/losing, but showing a low angle close up on his face, looking at the ground whilst walking. We also took framing into account when filming our shots, for example in frame 4, you can see we have used framing to emphasise how lonely Paul is. During my research, a shot in Psycho inspired this when you can see the woman through her window in the background of a longshot, therefore i feel this is a stereotypical genre convention as the use of threat space is seen often, and proves to be effective.

 

Frame 3 is an example of where we have used editing. In our A2 film trailer we have used editing very frequently to portray meaning. For example, we build the editing, along with non-diegetic sound to a loud, and very quickly cut crescendo towards the end of our trailer. We did this as it is very stereotypical of trailers to slowly build up speed, and sounds to increase the tension within the audience, so that they become interested. I found this inside my research as almost all of the trailers in which i researched, slowly became more quickly cut towards the end, especially The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo. The frame however also shows one effect of the many we used when it came to editing. For example, in this frame you can see a lower opacity, larger version of Paul Leigh where it connotes the idea that he is stress, and he is having troubles within himself. I found special FX to be very effective when creating a trailer, as if they come across as seamless, they can be greatly received by the audience. During the editing, we also added some intertitles which gave away some institutional information such as the billing block at the end, as well as the 'This February.' Although in Se7en, intertitles were used, they were used to somewhat portray the plot of the film, we however decided against doing this, as we wanted our plot to be mainly a mystery, therefore we challenged this thriller convention.

 

The location seen in frame 4 somewhat challenges the genre conventions for that of a psychological thriller genre film. For example, in my research, the locations in which thriller genre films are usually set are urban, and full of civilians, as well as large buildings for action. This was found within some of my research as for example, in the trailer for The girl with the Dragon Tattoo, lots of quick cut shots can be seen of large high-rise buildings, and large cities which help to signify the scale of the events happening on screen. However in frame 4, you can see our protagonist Paul Leigh sat isolated on a park bench. This challenges the thriller conventions as we have used a relatively small scale location to connote a sense of verisimilitude, and suggest that the unfolding events can happen anywhere. We thought this was a good idea, as the challenging of these stereotypes are relatable for the audience. We also chose a park to connote the loss of innocence, and the idea that Paul Leigh does not belong there, and give a visual representation of how he feels within. This was also signified by Paul Leigh being stood under a leafless tree, suggesting the idea of death.

Other location we have included within our Thriller trailer for Delirium include that of an average town house, as well as an office building/room. We feel as though this conformed to the stereotypes of the thriller genre when creating a trailer, as it has a wide range of different locations which are also used to progress narrative and suggest meaning. Similarly, the use of locations we have used is similar to that of Psycho, and the trailer that i analysed for research. I found our film's locations to be of similarity, as it happens in a small town, following a women who is isolated within a lone house. Our main goal was to show the mental deterioration of our protagonist, and i feel the use of the location of the office is effective at portraying how this begins, and how it is effecting him. In Se7en, there are lots of shots within the trailer, which show the protagonist's within an office space, this is to show the stress of the working environment, in which i think we incorporated in our A2 film trailer very effectively.

 

In frame 5, our main focus was the use of costume. We decided to use smart clothing in this scene to show Paul Leigh's social class, which we felt was stereotypical of the thriller genre as they also use costumes to portray the meanings and connotations of certain characters. For example, in the sixth sense, costumes are used to suggest the idea of a middle classed family, which make the events more relatable for an audience as this is similar to what the producers of the film would have targeted. However, we also chose this to show how somebody's mental state is able to destroy their social class, and how social class is a stereotypical way to connote their way of life. We wanted to juxtapose the costume of the suit, and were Paul Leigh is, in comparison to frame 3 where you can see him sat in a dark room, with ordinary/scraggy clothes on. We purposely chose a T-shirt with a paint smear on, as this suggests the idea of neglect, and the idea that his clothes are not clean signify his social class. Which we felt was an effective way to show his breakdown. We felt this challenged the thriller conventions, as in thriller genre films costumes are really only ever used to signify good or bad, as well as somebody's emotions. For example, in the silence of the lamb's, Hannibal Lectur is shown to be an antagonist through the use of jail clothing, and the lady is shown to be good by her smart appearance. We felt also that the costumes we chose were effective in creating verisimilitude, which some of my research also suggested, such as The Sixth Sense, where normal clothing is seen. This allowed us to also have a stereotypical trailer convention, as it allowed us to use a multiple range of costumes to signify different sections of the movie, and give the idea of the protagonist and antagonist. However in Delirium's case, we wanted to show the juxtaposition of his past and current life events.

 

In frame 6, and in fact most of the shots seen in the 9 frame analysis consists of low key lighting. We wanted to give a focus on the lighting within the Delirium film trailer as research previously undertaken gave us to reasoning to believe that the lighting is either used to express someone's emotions, metaphorically suggest the tone and mood of the film, as well as play off of an audiences fear of the dark. This for example was seen in The Sixth Sense and The Silence of The Lamb's as in both films, the saturation of colours seen are very neutral, and low key lighting is used to suggest the mood of the film, as well as the events of the trailer being unpleasant. Therefore, within our psychological thriller trailer, we wanted to give an emphasis on the use of lighting for different reasons. For one reason we decided on using low key lighting, was to give the denotation of darkness, that Paul Leigh is stressed, and up to no good. However we also wanted to connote the idea that he does have a dark side, and that the low key lighting is a metaphor for the 'shadow' within him. The use of shadows is also another convention seen in the thriller genre fairly often, this is because it creates the sense of mystery and the unknown, as seen in Se7en and the use of its antagonist. Therefore, we decided to use the idea of shadows to connote the emotional state of Paul Leigh, as well as take away an saturation of colours within our filming, to show his lack of emotion, and his mental breakdown.

 

Frame 7 also conforms to the thriller genre as Paul Leigh can be seen holding a hammer. This conforms to the genre conventions as almost all thrillers, as well as psychological thrillers focus on some use of a weapon to give the connotation of danger, and to keep the audience on the edge of their seats. Guns are present in my research for Se7en, as well as The Silence of the Lamb's, and Psycho (with its famous knife shower scene.) Therefore we decided to include the use of a hammer to give the idea of danger. We felt this also conformed to trailer conventions, as it does in fact give away some of the plot for our trailer Delirium, which does feature heavily in all trailers, even outside of the thriller genre. However, we did also somewhat challenge the weapon stereotype as we did not focus on a gun or a knife, which are commonly seen as mentioned before, we decided on a hammer as it is a very blunt object, which is fairly unorthodox. We liked this idea however as it shows that Paul Leigh is unorthodox also, and he is not really thinking straight. As well as the connotation of brutality. Death and danger is a common thriller convention also, so we have also used these conventions to fall within the thriller genre.

The use of colours is also effective in this shot in my opinion, as Paul Leigh is seen wearing all black apart for his shoes, which are white. I felt this was effective as the connotations of black are that he is dangerous and he is mysterious. However, the inclusion the white connotes the idea of him being an anti-hero, as he still has some good still within him. I believe this to be effective as colours are often used in psychological thrillers to connote somebody's agenda. Once again using my Silence Of The Lamb's research to which shows Hannibal Lectur wearing grey, connoting the idea of lifelessness.

My poster created for Delirium also uses the poster conventions, as well as genre conventions to create a realistic poster campaign for the trailer. For example, it immediately uses the stereotypical poster conventions of the institutional information (billing block), the actors names, as well as the star ratings. I feel this is important for audiences and i found this information on all of the posters in which i analysed/recreated, for example the Guardians of The Galaxy poster. A second instance where i have used common thriller genre conventions within my poster is the use of the shadow which can be seen sweeping across Paul Leigh's face. I found this to be effective, as i wanted the main image to relate to the plot of the film, and that is to suggest that this hero is not all he seems to be. In my recreation of the film poster Ouija, i found that the main image is almost always relating to the storyline (it is a Ouija board) and i found this a common element to every poster. I title is the second largest element to the poster, after the main imagine, and in both instances for Ouija and Guardians of the Galaxy, this was also the same feature. Therefore i was justified in making the title Delirium large, and in the top left of the screen, as i found this is where most people look first. My poster did however challenge the stereotypical location of a thriller genre, as such as in the Guardians of The Galaxy poster, and in a Sherlock Holmes i looked at also, the location is very action packed, and significant. Whereas, we positioned Paul against a brick wall to create verisimilitude, as this shows it can happen anywhere, and shows him as trapped and has his 'back to the wall'.

My magazine in my personal opinion resembles that of a real magazine front cover for a marketing campaign. To be stereotypical of a marketing campaign, I have kept synergistic elements through all of my media products including my trailer, and poster. This magazine conforms to a stereotypical media product similar to it, for example the strapline is written in big, bold and is centred. This is in coloured the same colour as the title Delirium - This is to continue the synergy, and is the main way in which the magazine advertises the film before anybody has even brought it as it is the feature film. Delirium remains large and unchanged also, as  to draw attention and give it importance.  I have also been stereotypical of magazines by including cover lines to advertise other films, as well as the masthead to give recognition to the magazine brand. I have also conformed to the stereotypical genre conventions within my magazine. For example the use of colours are stereotypical for a thriller film, as the darkness connotes mystery, and the blue suggests the irrationality and unpredictability of Paul Leigh. My main image is of the main character, so the audience become familiar and associate Paul Leigh with the title Delirium. I have also once again included the convention of the shadow, to give  away plot elements, and so audiences can recognise that this film Is based in the thriller genre. I found when researching Empire's film specific magazine for The Hobbit, that magazine front covers use lots of punctuation and imperatives to entice you in to purchasing and reading the magazine, for example where it says 'PRECIOUS EXCLUSIVE'. The colours I found were also important in connoting the genre of the film, therefore  felt this should be a focus on my own magazine cover.