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

Both these shots use POVs; this is a staple of the horror genre, and usually from the antagonist’s perspective. It is used quite often in slashers and links to the idea that the audience identifies with the antagonist in horror. The other main element in this still is the use of depth of field and focus to show that the POV is in a hidden position; it is more obvious in the Eden lake shot but is still quite clear in ours. The characters all need to be facing away for this shot to work effectively, which has been done with both.

Running is seen in almost every slasher at some point and these films are no exception. POV is used in ours as it is a very common convention for horrors, slasher in particular to show it from the antagonist’s perspective. Their trailer uses a low angle and it denotes high status and action, which is evident in the shot.

This is a commonly used shot in the recent genre nicknamed 'torture porn' the character is completely trapped at the close up of their face shows their despair. The Saw one looks a lot more dangerous due to the contraption on the woman’s head but again budget prevented anything like this in ours. The lighting in the saw one is quite bright as this is a film that relies on pain and gore for its horror instead of using the darkness and keeping it creepy. In ours we tried to incorporate the creepiness by making the room quite dark and having Rebecca look down.


Both these shots show pretty much the same thing and it terms of mise en scene, with the antagonist touching furniture on the way to a victim which is indicative body language. Darkness is used in both to connote fear and the idea of not knowing what’s lurking in the darkness which is another common convention in horror. In our shot we have blood on the hands and on the table which connotes death and having killed, great for horror. The convention of darkness is used once again.

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The use of shadows is a highly effective convention of the horror genre. Both the shots use shadows to imply a violent act, without actually seeing it, the audience uses its imagination of the act and this can be scarier than simply seeing the act. In both shots the weapon is raised high to imply a lot of force behind it. Their shot uses POV of the victim which isn’t seen much in horror anymore, but is effective for jumpy moments. A close up on the masked face on the antagonist. Without showing any emotion or eye movement this shot can come off as very creepy and also high status. The blood in ours connotes a lot of danger and violence. The close up, although it is commonly used to display emotion, here shows a lack of, this is a nice turnaround of common cinema convention.

These shots both have an antagonist about to strike a character with a weapon, and are in the process of walking toward/ raising the weapon. The use of motivated lighting works well in our shot as the weapon swinging in the way of it attracts interest to it and raises tension. This is flickering lighting which is another common convention in horror. Darkness is used again in these images and due to its extreme use it can be hard to make out objects in these low quality stills, this adds to the mysterious atmosphere of the films.

This is a medium shot of the antagonist exerting physical dominance over the final girl; again this is common in slashers. Both the shots show the antagonist coming from the back, which adds to the surprise aspect of the shot. The shots also both neither have any other characters in, this adds to the fear aspect as there is no one that could help them and interrupt the physical dominance. In the shot from Friday the 13th Jason is exerting more dominance that ours, which works quite effect, also the way that he does not engage eye contact and appears to not make any effort are horror conventions.

Establishing shots in horror are very important for establishing the mood and tone for the film. Trees or forests are great for establishing shots as they can connote; wilderness, confusion, darkness and the unknown. Shots that look to the sky are also a great horror establishing convention.

We tried to follow the teaser convention of keeping it short, this helped us to condense our ideas into a shorter space, keeping it interesting without giving too much of the plot away.The music we use in the teaser is very emotive of the atmosphere we tried to create. It also uses a very common teaser convention, of working up to a crescendo slowly throughout the trailer, but without a musical resolution. This is great for increasing interest as it makes the audience want to watch the film to see its ‘crescendo’ of events.

I believe that the trailer contains enough key elements so that the target audience (16-25 year old males) will recognize the conventions and see that it appeals to them.We have indicated the genre of the movie through the use of music and characters, this is very important for the trailer as the viewer needs to know if the product will appeal to them from the beginning, and the genre is a good indication of this. The name of the movie is also important, as awareness cannot be increased without people knowing the name of the movie, so this was indicated throughout the trailer. The production values also help with increasing awareness, which is the main job for the teaser as the companies involved are already quite well known, raising expectations for this film. Some directors such as Sam Raimi http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000600/bio are associated with top horror movies and the mention of his name in a trailer increases the interest for the audience.

This deviates from usual teaser conventions and is usually seen in theatrical trailers but I think it works here to get the audience to show interest from the beginning. The beginning of the trailer is set in a forest, which is a horror convention, and this is because it is great for creating a sense of isolation, fearing the unknown, and not being in used to the surroundings. These are all brilliant for horror. The second setting for the teaser is the basement/dungeon style place. This is also a common setting for horror films, and this is because it is very effective in creating the sense of it being a place for secrets and the past to be hidden, and connote our primitive instincts and repressed terrors. Along with the use of darkness (a very common horror convention) creating fear of the unknown, they work together to create a great atmosphere for a horror movie and especially a teaser trailer. The camerawork is very expressive rather than naturalistic, this is a common convention for horror, and works to create an atmosphere that the audience can feel and be part of, I feel we have used this style well in the teaser. We’ve tried to incorporate the theme of known vs. unknown in our teaser as it is a common horror convention and increases interest as a product. A convention I have followed is not giving away the actual release date. This is often done in teaser trailers as it allows for delays and increases interest. The production companies are mentioned, but other details, such as actors or previous works aren’t. This is a common convention for teaser trailers, as it does not distract from the mood of the teaser and as time is limited in teaser trailers, this can be very important. I have tried my best not to reveal details of the story in the teaser, as not giving too much away is a common teaser convention we stick with to increase interest and curiosity.