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

Our trailer is a British horror, it consists of mild torture scenes and a final girl. Torture and the idea of a final girl are both generic conventions of horror. Our trailer is a teaser trailer opposed to a full length theatrical trailer, therefore it is only 2 minutes in length (this is marginally longer than a typical teaser which usually lasts about 90 seconds, however it is considerably shorter than some theatrical trailers).

I believe our teaser does break some conventions of teaser trailers as there is more dialogue and more of the plot revealed than you would expect in a typical teaser (as teasers are generally used to build early hype and circulate knowledge of the films release). However, I believe that by revealing more of the plot, the audience becomes more emotionally involved with the film from an early stage meaning that they will anticipate its release more.

We have used climatic music which is a generic convention of trailers as it leaves the resolution unknown. The chosen music is typical of British horror as the gentle guitar progression is juxtaposed to the on-screen gore, this differs from many horror trailers which often use eerie piano notes to create the horror atmosphere.

We used inter-titles to aid the narration of the trailer as with a teaser trailer the fast progression of the visuals make it difficult to link the ideas. This supports Bordwell and Thompson's ideas of narrative structure being explained in terms of time and space. The plot that the visuals cover in teaser trailers are too fast past for the audience to be able to link the events in terms of time and space without the aid of inter-titles.





I have analysed stills from our trailer and similar stills from other horror trailers to compare and contrast how we have used and challenged existing conventions within the horror genre.



1.


We used the colour red within the quick shots as a premonition of the blood shed within the film.
We achieved this effect by using a red filter on final cut pro colour corrector as the colour red is a generic convection within the horror genre. The colour red is often associated with horror as it connotes pain, death, anger and blood. Quick shots can be used in horror either as premonitions of what is to come or as an insight into someones thoughts. They can be extremely obscure when shown for as little duration as ours. They are used almost exclusively in horror as obscurity and the unknown are themes played upon in horror, the audiences imagination and interpretation are key to their own understanding of the plot. Quick shots such as these plant questions in the viewers mind as to what the images represent and whether they are clues as to the rest of the plot.

The red filter is also used over the quick shots from "The Last Exorcism" to connote the evil/devil inside. We used the red filter quick shots in a similar way as in both texts they expose more of the films plot without explaining the narrative. These quick shots occur when the devil takes over the girls body, it remains ambiguous as to whether this shot is a premonition of the girls future or a thought of the devils.
2.

We used close ups of torture as existing horror trailers often used obscure close ups so that the torture is not too graphic (making the film a 15 certificate rather than 18, broadening the audience). Using CU's also made the gore more achievable on our low budget as with this reaction shot you cannot see what is causing the pain, however empathy with the character is still created by the close up of his expression. It is important to create empathy for characters within a trailer as the audience then feels more involved and wants to know the fate of the character. 

A gag and blood are typical horror iconography. This restriction of a gag leaves characters vulnerable therefore the audience have feelings of wanting to help the helpless.


Close up's are used to show the torture in "Saw", however unlike with our trailer, the CU's are used to make the trailer more graphic. "Saw" would fit into the horror sub-genre of torture porn, therefore the target audience are likely to want to see the gore, whereas our audience research demonstrated a very low demand for torture porn horror therefore we decided to make the torture less graphic.




3.
 The final girl is a character often used in horror. Carol Clover argues that males can identify with this character due to experiences of being the underdog at school; they can therefore live out their dreams of becoming the hero through the unlikely heroism of the final girl.The final girl often has androgynous traits, in this case she has short hair and the androgynous name "Kellie" to ensure that both males and females can relate to her. The stance of the final girl crawling down the stairs shows vulnerability and fear, however also determination to escape rather than admitting defeat. This is a combination of characteristics that a final girl often embodies.


The "final girl" in "Creep" outlives the male characters, this is also suggested to be the case in our trailer. However the final girl in "Creep" is wearing a feminine floral dress and has long blond hair (stereotypically female), she does not have androgynous characteristics as the "final girl" in "The Spare Room" does. This more feminine stereotype supports Laura Mulvey's theory of "The Male Gaze" as she believes the viewer is forced to view the media text through a heterosexual males view point with the females being sexualisedsexualise or identify with the character.

4.


We used teenagers as the victims in our film as the farmer has irrational ideas about teenagers as a whole due to a car crash his son died in. These kind of irrational beliefs in horror, along with the "nuisance teen" perception of teens being naive and stupid makes them ideal victims. Also the target audience of horror is predominantly teenagers therefore they may be able to relate more to characters of a similar demographic to them.





The teenagers in "Eden Lake" are used as the monsters rather than the victims as they typically are in slasher films. This shows how although horror does have generic conventions, they can be broken. In some ways it can be said that teenagers are portrayed similarly in most horror as their status in society is often the same. In "Eden Lake" they are the "monster" and in most slasher films teenagers are represented as almost deserving their tragic fate for sins they may commit (drinking, sex etc.).
We used an in car shot at the beginning of the trailer to establish equilibrium (the first stage of Todorov's narrative structure). However, the idea of driving away from civilisation also makes the characters more vulnerable, setting up the inevitable disequilibrium. The ambient, high key lighting of the shot connotes normality, however the countryside scenery connotes isolation and therefore vulnerability.

5.
 We used an in car shot at the beginning of the trailer to establish equilibrium (the first stage of Todorov's narrative structure). However, the idea of driving away from civilisation also makes the characters more vulnerable, setting up the inevitable disequilibrium. The ambient, high key lighting of the shot connotes normality, however the countryside scenery connotes isolation and therefore vulnerability. 

"The Last House uses a car journey as a means of taking characters away from their normal life. The unknown is a theme often used in horror and an unknown location provides an ideal base for unexpected events to occur within. The main difference between "The Spare Room" and "The Last House on the Left" is that in "The Spare Room" their journey was cut short due to a break down however in "The Last House on the Left" they do arrive at their chosen destination. The breakdown in "The Spare Room" makes the characters even more vulnerable as they have to trust a stranger due to not knowing the location.
6.

We used voyeuristic shots to implicate to the audience the presence of someone or something the on screen characters do not know about. This is useful within a trailer as it creates intrigue amongst the audience without revealing too much. The dramatic irony also makes the audience feel more involved. It is necessary to use such devices to make the audience empathise with characters within a teaser trailer as dialogue is limited due to the approximately 90 second duration.

The shot is filmed from behind a window which adds texture to the image which suggests that disequilibrium is about to occur; the image is no longer clean and clear (normal).
Voyeuristic shots are also used in "Eden Lake", however this shot varies from ours as the on screen characters are looking at the camera suggesting that they are aware of someone elses presence. This does not give the same dramatic irony, however it does put the audience in the eyes of the "monster" and makes the audience, albeit reluctantly, relate with the monster. This idea supports the theory of horror films being sadistic as we, the audience, are the "monster" inflicting pain amongst others.

7.

We used extreme close ups as a convention of horror is to use varied camera shots rather than traditional rule of thirds framing. The obscurity that extreme close ups provide create suspense and add to the idea of the unknown prevalent within horror. In this case it also alerts the audience to the significance that opening the door has; disequilibrium occurs beyond this point.

Extreme close ups of doors occur in many horror trailers as it leaves more of the unknown concealed. The suspense of what is behind the door builds, creating more impact when revealed.







8.


We used inter-titles rather than a voice over as voice over is more typical of the comedy, romance or action genres. Our horror trailer is a gritty British horror therefore a voice over may have been too over exaggerated.
We used a generic convention of trailers as the inter-titles are staggered so that the audience can read them and are intrigued to see the second half of the sentence. We also used rhetorical questions, another generic convention of trailers, these involve the audience and make them draw upon their own morals. We used a larger simple text as this is easy for the audience to read, however the serif font is generic of the horror genre.

 This inter-title is more declarative rather than interrogative, this outlines the plot effectively without needing too much footage. This is important in a teaser trailer, however revealing too much of the plot is not effective and would be unrealistic as a teaser trailer is released early in the production process of the film.
I like the spotlight effect used on the background of the inter-titles. If I was edit "The Spare Room" trailer again I would add an effect to the background of the inter-titles
 9.

 Cantered camera angles are a generic convention used in horror films. They connote that events are out of the ordinary and that the monster within the horror may have a skewed perspective of reality. In our film the monster (farmer) is taking revenge on any teenager due to the teenagers that killed his son, this is a skewed perspective of reality. The cantered angle also connotes disequilibrium as the camera angle is out of the ordinary coinciding with events.




 "The Grudge" uses a low angle, which gives a similar effect to the cantered low angle we used. In both texts the unusual angle alerts the audience to the genre as cantered angles are a generic convention of the horror genre. The are also a premonition used early on in the trailer to suggest the unusual events that are to follow.