My response to: 'In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?'

1. Question 1
Emma Cleary

2.  The genre of my trailer is real life drama. Most
films within this genre focus around a main
subject with cross links into other genres such
as romance.
 During my research and planning stages of my
trailer I looked into already existing media
teaser trailer to help me to discover the codes
and conventions of a real life drama film.

3.  One film in particular that I looked at was ‘Now is
Good’, portraying a young girl who is fighting
terminal cancer and has made the sacrificing decision
to refuse any further treatment. From here she falls in
love and begins to complete a bucket list. Similarly to
this film, I have chosen to focus my film on a real life
event that can happen to anyone. Like a terminal
illness, although not as extreme, adoption can be the
case for anyone and many people are kept from the
truth. Therefore I decided this film was a great
example in showing me what conventions to use in
order to cross link a dramatic story, and turn it into
something positive.

4.  My idea follows the codes and conventions of
a real life drama by the way it focuses on a
dramatic realistic subject of adoption and a
young girl waiting 18 years before
discovering the truth about her family. From
here it makes links to other genres such at
romance, when the young girl falls in love. As
does the female character in ‘Now is Good’.

5.  My film is set in the current time period, therefore with
regards to costumes and styling was pretty simple.
However I still took time during my research and planning
stages of my teaser trailer to look into the types of styling
used within real life drama films as I wanted to make I
followed the correct convention.
I looked into the
codes and
conventions of
the style
portrayed in
‘Now is Good’
Costumes are appropriate to
the realistic setting and do
not stand out too much.
Hair and Make-
Up is also basic
in order to not
draw too much
attention away
from the story.

6.  I used the codes and conventions of styling from
‘Now is Good’ and developed this convention
further by relating to latest fashion trends and
my characters individual profiles.
For Autumn’s
characters outfit I
followed to
convention of a
real life drama by
keeping it as
simple as
possible. I used
the bold red
woolly hat to a
strike of colour
that related to
the main theme
of Autumn within
the film.
For Tom’s
character I
again kept his
outfit simple.
Using clothes
that the target
audience
would
associate as
‘everyday’
clothes.

7.  A convention of a teaser trailer is to ‘tease’ the audience
before the film is released by giving them short clips, edited
together to entice their attention and make them want to
watch the film on release. The aim of the teaser trailer is not
to give to much information away or contain any ‘spoilers’.
 Within my own teaser trailer I have included short clips in
which don’t give too much of the story away. They portray an
outline of the dramatic events in the story, however may
leave the audience anticipating to find out the complete
story. However I have challenged this convention in the way
that I have included a clip showing the card Autumn’s
character receives on her 18th birthday of her biological
mother. This alongside a voiceover reading the card aloud,
allows the audience to understand what the card is about
before watching to complete film. I believe this had to be
done, otherwise the rest of the trailer would not have made
complete sense to the audience.

8.  With regards to transitions, within real life drama trailers the
transitions between each short clip tend to vary depending on
the topic of the film.
 When analysing ‘Now is Good’, the transitions were sharp,
sudden and fast paced. Portraying the fact that time was limited
and there was a number of things the main character wanted to
complete.
 However I also analysed ‘The Pursuit of Happyness’ trailer, which
took a much slower approach. Emphasising the fact that it was
taking the male lead a long time to find a job that could support
his family.
 A convention that I noticed within each was that they both used
flashes of lights to switch between dramatic clips or clips that
contained a detailed insight into the film.

9.  I used the convention with regards to flashing
light between clips within my teaser trailer by
editing some clips to fade out to white in order
to make it appear there is a flash of light.
However I challenged this convention by also
making some of my clips fade to black in order
to make sure the clips that faded to white were
bolder as they tended to include important
information.
 Alongside this I used fast, quick pace transition
times in order to make my trailer seem upbeat,
like the trailer ‘Now is Good’. By doing this it
reinforced the fact that Autumn is rushing to
discover the truth about her family. However I
also challenged this by combining some slower
transitions, like used in the trailer for ‘The
Pursuit of Happyness’ in order to allow the
audience time to empathise with Autumn’s story
and give them time to understand and become
interested in the film.

10.  When analysing real life drama trailers I began to understand
that like the transitions, the music varies depending on how
dramatic the story is.
 For example, ‘Now is Good’ has fast paced, upbeat music yet ‘My
Sister’s Keeper’ has slow soft music. Both representing different
things.
 I challenged this convention within my trailer by developing it
further and combining the two techniques I discovered during my
research together. I began the trailer with fast upbeat music, to
show how Autumn was leading a very normal life. This then
changed to music containing a strong beat in order to show how
‘everything changed’ when she received her birthday card from
her real mum. Then to represent her journey in search of her
mum and falling in love, I used softer music.

11.  A convention within real life drama film trailers is the
ending on a cliff-hanger. I used this convention within my
trailer by leaving the final conclusion of my film a mystery
to my target audience. This is done, I believe to keep the
suspense and leaves the audience wanting to find out what
happens.
 This convention is also displayed in another trailer that I
analysed: ‘My Sister’s Keeper’. The trailers shows short
clips of the film about a young girl who was conceived in
order to save her older sisters life. The trailer mixes the
clips together, making the ending of the film unknown and
the audience is left unaware of the final outcome.

12.  I used this convention within my own teaser trailer by keeping
the ending a mystery to my target audience. I wanted to ensure
that the ending was not given away within the trailer as I
believed this defeated the object of ‘teasing’ the audience with
small clips of the film, just to give the ending away before the
film is even released.
 The ending of my trailer sees Autumn’s character approaching a
house. Followed by the door opening from the inside before the
trailer comes to a sudden finish.

13. Within my movie poster I have followed many conventions from other film
posters I analysed through my research and planning stages. The title is
clear, the credits at the bottom of the page and the image is bold.

14.  When researching movie posters I began to
understand that they all contain a very different
layout:

15.  I chose to use conventions from
the ‘Now is Good’ poster
combined with ‘The Vow’ movie
poster as these are two posters I
favoured.
 I chose a landscape image as I
wanted to recreate the ‘Now is
Good’ poster through the way
they are looking towards the
empty space on the right of the
poster. Emphasising that they are
things on their mind, as does
Autumn in my film. Therefore I
placed the main image on the
left.

16.  When researching into already existing movie posters, I
learnt that all contained credits – therefore I knew that
this was a vital part of the poster that should not be
missed out.
The credits within my poster
are placed at the bottom of
the page as they are on the
film poster for ‘Now is Good’.
The text size is not too big
yet still big enough to read.

17. I challenged this
convention by grouping my
credits a different way
instead of spreading them
across the whole width of
the page. As done in ‘The
Vow’ movie poster.
With regards to the
title and tag line for my
film. I followed the
conventions from
already existing movie
posters, also with a
landscape layout.
Therefore I place my
title in the empty space
on the right.

18.  The background of my
movie poster contains the
light effect ‘Bokeh’. Which
refers to the way the light
has hit the camera and
been captured in the image
creating bright colourful
circles.
 The convention of Bokeh is
used within poster I
analysed for ‘My Sister’s
Keeper’, through the way it
is used around the edge of
the main image.
I took this convention and challenged it by using the Bokeh effect across
the whole background image. By doing this I believe it bought the whole
movie poster together and by placing my main image just below the
light draws attention to Autumn’s character as well as creating a centre
point within the poster.

19. Like my movie poster
and teaser trailer I
have used a lot of
different
conventions within
my magazine front
cover that I have
found from my
research into already
existing media
products.

20. I have placed
the barcode at
the bottom of
the page as
within
magazines I
analysed this
where they had
been placed.
I have placed my
main image
slightly over the
top of my
masthead as this
was done in many
of the magazines I
analysed. This
convention makes
the magazine look
well known.
Details regarding the price I have placed in
small text at the bottom of the page so that
it does not obstruct a story.
The overall magazine
front cover ties in
together through the
use of matching
colours. Using
corporate colours
throughout was
something that when
analysing pre-
existing media
products was a way
of making an image
for the magazine
that audience could
relate to.
I have also placed
the majority of
text using the
rule of left third.

21.  A convention I learnt when
analysing magazine front covers
was that a common convention
was the way the main image
slightly covered the masthead,
emphasising that the magazine
is well known. I used this
convention within my own front
cover in order to create a
professional look within my
magazine.
I then used this convention within my own magazine front cover
by placing the main image of Autumn over the top of the
masthead. However I challenged this slightly by still making the
masthead appear readable.

22.  Another convention I used
within my magazine front
cover was the rule of left
third. As we read left to
right and due to the way
the magazines are
displayed in shops this is
the first part of the
magazine the audience
will see.
 This is something I took
into account when
creating my magazine
front cover. I ensured that
all the main articles were
advertised using the rule
of left third as well
applying a shade on the
background image in order
to add emphasis to the
left third.

23.  Finally a convention that was apparent when researching existing
media products was the use of corporate colours in which
represent the magazine company and are recognisable to the
audience members.
 For example, in ‘EMPIRE’ magazine, the corporate colours are as
follows; these colours are present in nearly every edition of the
magazine and because of this, the target audience are able to
recognise the magazine straight away because of the bright
colours used.
 I used this convention within my own magazine
front cover by the way I have used a variety of
similar colours. This also links into the theme of
Autumn as well as my production company ‘Maple
Productions’, in which also use the same colour
scheme.