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

The above shots show a Point Of View low angle shot to put the viewer in the position of the characters involved. The shots are of ceiling equiptment, which instantly suggests the character involved is being contained and forced to look up or lying down which may suggest they have been knocked out unoconcious or being held down. Conventionally, these shots are typical of the horror genre, being low and off-centered. The image taken from 'The Mentor' is canted and uses motivated lighting which is also conventionally typical. The shot from 'The Eye' contains clinical, grey, washed-out colouring which again suggests medical themes which are stereotypically used within psychological horror movies.

These two shots are to show the scared facial expressions of the characters and the way the viewer is contained within the shot due to the close-up frame. This draws the viewer in to indentify with the character and assume that danger is upon them, which in turn is turning their emotions into fear and apprehension. This therefore makes the viewer gain a sense of the unease and relate to the assumed protagonist. The dark background is another typical horror convention which is commonly used to block out any clue as to what may be happening in the storyline - you are completely unaware of what is going on around you, as the protagonist would be in this situation, therefore you are totally connected to the protagonist and in turn, the storyline as well.

I have contained these two shots to show the ambient lighting used in both giving it an air of normality to the viewer. This is a horror convention which is commonly used in trailers to suggest a sense of normality that is ruined by a suggested antagonist later on or at the very beginning of the trailer. Also, the warm marmalade colouring of the outside setting in 'The Devil's Rejects' adds to the weather and the middle-of-the-day setting which makes it all the more shocking when something goes wrong as it is not expected. 'The Mentor' uses the office natural daytime light setting to show how comfortable and relaxed both characters are with one another, which again adds to the suprise when one turns on the other.

These two images are used to show horror conventions as they are popularly portrayed in movies; close-up facially centred shots of the main antagonist looking mentally disturbed or feeling extreme emotion such as anger or distress. They are extremely representative of horror because many horror movies contain the danger and fear they do because of a disturbed individual or individuals whom may end up bringing harm to other individuals. These shots are very good at bringing the audience in and making them relate with the antagonist in joining them with the innocent's feelings of fear and struggle at the hands of these protagonists.

The over the shoulder shot is a clever angle used to put the viewer in the physical position of whichever character is viewing something important to the plot or storyline. It puts the viewer in an uncomfortable position where they must relate to the position of the character, whether that be through fear or anger. They are mostly close ups of whatever the character can see, and is a very prominent tool used conventionally in the horror genre, so I felt it appropriate to include it in 'The Mentor's teaser trailer.

The use of inter titles adds parts to the trailer that would be difficult to visualise in any other way than in writing. It adds a sense of dramatisation and fear, which is what excites many horror fans genre and adds more than just images to the make-up of the trailer, which keeps viewers alert and interested. Conventionally, the writing is usually distorted with some sort of effect and in red or white colouring - red being a connotation of blood and gore, and white being a connotation of paranormal activity and the unknown. Also, the text is typically contained on a black background with the writing quite small and in the centre - the black being another convention as it is the colour of evil and invisibility to what is contained within it. This plays very cleverly on the fear of the unknown. The use of language is always similar as well in regards to inter titles in horror trailers, as it is always questioning what one would take forgranted or questioning one's common sense, for example 'When someone you trust.... abuses your faith.... your nightmares become reality'. This is a common convention amoungst horror trailers.

The use of dark, small human figures on a dark, naturally busy surrounding is another quite new concept to conventions of a horror trailer. It is again a good example of the unknown and shows a character whom the viewer is unaware of in an uncomfortably long and straight stance positioned in the centre of the screen as if to suggest the viewer is being watched. We added a canted angle on our shot to give it even more edge in terms of the disorientation of the shot, and to make the camera work give a true portrayal of conventional horror filming, which is expressive more than naturalistic. Canted angles are a good use of expressive filming, and we felt it appropriate to contain this theme within our trailer. The natural setting seen here is also a powerful tool, as it suggests the viewer is lost in the woods, in these two examples, and unable to get an idea of where they are exactly. This puts the viewer at the mercy of the protagonist and adds a sensation of distress, which we thought was good to add to our trailer.

The 'coming soon' text is usually always at the end of a trailer, and to stick to conventions we kept to these rules. It is mostly on a black background convenying a sense of danger and being lost, and it never usually contains much more information than that the movie is coming soon. We also followed these conventions so to keep with the horror genre. It is a good tool to build suspense and make the audience want to go and watch the film, which our group believed it did, so we made sure it was added into our trailer.

The gore was used as we found it in almost every horror movie we used as examples and also our audience feedback showed that many audiences enjoy the gore aspects of horror movies. This is evident in the example screen shot shown from 'Rec 2', which has a lot of gore and violence in it, and was a very popular movie. We felt it was important to add some elements of gore into the teaser trailer as it is a very popular theme that interests many audiences and therefore would be a good selling point of the movie to potential consumers if they were to see it in a trailer. I believe that it is such a popular concept because it is unrelatable to most audiences and therefore is a new experience and an interesting concept because it is so unknown to many. It also adds a sense of danger and fear to an audience and this is also an attractive quality to audiences that most horror conventions contain. Gore was contained within these movie trailers because is a good selling point of any movie due to its popularity.