Question 2

In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms
and conventions of real media products?
I was able to use and develop the forms and conventions of real media products
in the production of my own media products. This can be seen through the
conventions which my group and I have incorporated from other films such as in
Evil Dead (2013), Sinister (2012) and The Babadook (2014).
In the beginning of my trailer, I established Todorovs equilibrium stage, as I have
included establishing shots of the school location, setting the scene for the
audience. I decided to use the school as a setting, as it will convey the
characters ages, and give our target audience something to identify with, as
they will be primarily females from the ages of 15- 24, so they will either be able
to relate to school as they are still in secondary or higher education, or would
have experienced it. The location also allows the audiences to decode that the
characters are being represented as typical students, shown by the school
building and classroom as well as the teacher in the class room, further
signifying that teenagers in school are normally under supervision of authority
figures and institutions, such as education. This has been used from both the
original (1976, United Artists) and contemporary (See video 1) film examples of
Carrie (2013, Metro- Goldwyn- Mayer), which uses the school environment to
allow the target audience to identify with Carries struggles, such as her homelife, friendship groups and school work, bringing a successful merge of horror
within the familiar, allowing it to become more relatable and realistic to the
audience.
When the trailer moves to the disruption in the attic, I also tried to follow the
conventions of low-key lighting, to make it appear darker and mysterious to the
audience. Developing the use of the lantern in the film Insidious, we used our
iPhone torches, both as a prop to convey the stereotype that teenagers all have
and use phones, as well as making the scene appear more realistic, as the
characters using real torches would be too staged, as they are in a school and
entering an isolated or forbidden location. I then continued the use of this
convention to my poster. I have used lighting in order to provide my image with a
supernatural quality that something is behind my character while her back is
turned, perhaps controlling or possessing, conveyed through the brighter light
shining on her, juxtaposing the darkness around her. This allows my target
audience, like those who consumed the Insidious: Chapter 2 poster (2013,
distributed by FilmDistrict), to have a dominant reading of the message they
decode (in accordance to Halls audience reception theory), that the light
symbolizes a disturbance.
Within the attic scene I have also used conventions such as a handy- cam, with a
record button flashing in the top left hand corner and the REC symbol, to give it
the sense of verisimilitude to the audience. This idea has been taken from The
Blair Witch Project (1999, Haxan Films) and Oren Palis popular franchise,
Paranormal Activity (2009, Blumhouse productions), which has begun to make
the technique increasingly popular as it provides the audience with a sense of
realism, as it feels as though they have an authentic character accounts, making
the storyline more relatable.

Sounds such as the box being kicked in our trailer are reflections of the moment
when the protagonist in Sinister find the box of tapes in his attic. The loud
diagetic slams used show our characters that something has dropped, but is also
used to encode to the audience that something significant has occurred, creating
tension. Also, within my soundtrack I have used glitch sounds in the montage
when the Morte Aeterna symbol flashes, in order to convey a disturbance (both
supernatural and technological, to combine the horror element with the
destruction of the familiar) and further build suspense and the pace of the trailer
as it reaches the end, further emphasising Todorovs narrative theoretic stage of
recognition of the disruption to both the characters within the scenes and the
audience. This was inspired by Sinisters glitch sound occurring in the
beginning of their theatrical trailer (at 00:09) when the symbol of their
antagonist appears for the first time. However, I decided to develop this further,
using my own variation of the sound in my theatrical trailers montage to
reinforce the change from Todorovs equilibrium stage to the recognition of the
disruption, highlighting the impending danger the protagonists will face.
Towards the end of our trailer, when my characters try to find a resolution for the
problem in accordance to Todorovs narrative stages, I found inspiration from
scenes such as Sinister and The Babadook, where the characters have tried to
resolve their problems by setting the initial antagonists on fire. We have used the
fire as a conventional symbol for the destruction and disposal of our Morte
Aeterna book, but also to show that the fire is believed to bring positivity
through cleansing. We have developed this by changing the colour of the fire
once the book has been destroyed, to convey to the audience its powers and
mystical properties which have been unleashed once it burns.
Other conventional elements have been incorporated, such as Strauss, Binary
Oppositions which occur in most films. For example, in Insidious it is seen
through the antithesis of young and old and good and evil. However, I felt that a
more relatable opposition presented to my target audience would be the school
environment, found in films such as Carrie (2013), evident through the popular
and unpopular students. This convention was then developed through my use
of the Gothic character type, was supported through my research into historical
films such as Bram Stokers Dracula (1992, American Zoetrope). I chose to
follow the conventions of the dark clothing and makeup shown throughout the
promotional campaign, however apply them to the contemporary time that my
film is set. Therefore, I have used average black jeans and a black hoody as the
characters costume in my magazine front cover, using her clothing and its
colour in particular to strengthen her gothic image, as well as the representing
the wider societal belief that this these are typical clothing items teenagers wear.
The reinforcement of my characters Gothic image occurs not only throughout my
trailer, but also in my ancillary texts. On my magazine front cover, I used the
typical location occurring in supernatural horror films, of the cemetery as the
background in my long shot, establishing it to the audience. This allows my
characters presence there to be open to a negotiated reading by my target
audience, raising the questions of why she is there and alone, whether it has to
do with a major event in the film, or if it is just typical of her gothic character,
thereby creating an enigma.

Through this development I was able to represent the different types of subcultures within society. It could be argued that in doing so I had created a
regressive representation as well as an enigmatic character for my audience, due
to the stereotypical images I had implemented, such as the dramatic, heavy
makeup, the idea that people belonging to the gothic culture spend their time in
cemeteries and wear black. However, my intent was to construct a different
presentation of the typical popular and unpopular students and outsiders,
using typical antitheses of cultures and sub-cultures. This can be particularly
seen through my character Sages Binary Opposite, Jess, who is the
representation of a stereotypically average teenager, conforming to society,
which most mainstreamer members of the target audience would be able to
relate to, based on my readership profiles and to fulfil their sense of personal
identity.
Another Binary Opposition is my use of technology against the ancient and the
occult, which can be seen throughout my trailer. For example, in the beginning
when my characters go up into the old, dark school attic they are able to see
through the use of the iPhone torches, and record their journey with a video
camera. This contrasts the attics conventional symbol of isolation and mystery,
(as seen in Sinister) particularly when it is implied that there has been archaic
practices through our candle props and the book. Once they find it, they are able
to research its ancient meaning through using the internet on a laptop, reflecting
modern technologies advantages over the book, and how it differs in providing
the characters information.
Finally, I was able to challenge the representation of women. In most popular
horror films, such as The Babadook (2014) an example of a contemporary
supernatural horror, as well as Scream (2002), and the original Friday the 13 th
(1980) both show how women are regressively represented as being weak,
relying on some sort of male influence, for example, a boyfriend. These films
make use of the Final Girl character (the last character alive, who is often a
woman), to show how women are particularly targeted and left vulnerable in
films. I have defied the traditional conventions of supernatural horror films, as
my products include an all-female cast. Despite this leaving the interpretation of
the use of a Final Girl to the audience through my use of only a single
protagonist in my ancillary texts. For example, on my magazine front cover, my
character is directly addressing the audience, implying her confidence, as well as
her stance, established through the use of the long shot, conveying her strength
to the camera. Therefore, my products create a progressive representation,
presenting women as strong, without male dependency. I knew that my
divergence would not be too challenging, particularly for my target audience, as I
am aiming to appeal primarily to females, and in my research found that
members of my target audience were in a majority in support of the idea. Films,
in previous years, such as the slasher horror, Sinister Row (2009, E1
Entertainment), which also featured a dominant female cast and was able to
gross at $5,059,802 during its opening weekend, further encouraging me to
implement this idea, due to the proven success of a real media product.