evaluation Q1 - in what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions

For our film teaser trailer, poser and magazine front cover we felt it was quite important following the different forms and conventions of real media products to produce a high quality promotional package. For a teaser trailer or film, we found that a company logo is displayed for representation. We then also decided to design our own film company logo, linking it to our film idea and different conventions within it. A description of our company logo is three shining, gold stars, representing the three characters (three women). This also signifies glamour, diamonds and wealth. We placed our logo on a diagonal tilt, to show an idea of shooting stars and labelled our logo ‘bedazzled productions’ as this corresponds to the three main female characters.
We decided to create a colour code, each colour highlighted a word to add emphasize for e.g.
_ Black connotes – black, death and evil
_ white connotes _ wholesomeness, purity and innocence
_ Red connotes _ romance, passion, sex and love
_ Gold connotes _ wealth, material goods and glamour
These are the colours we used and referred to in our film teaser trailer, poster and magazine front cover. Our colour code was applicant to each word for e.g. 'sweet and good' was white, connoting purity. Oppose to this was 'bad', which connotes danger, evil and murder. We referred to out colour code constantly, showing conventions through props for e.g. red lipstick, blood, jewellery, red rose petals and red nail vanish on character's nails. This shows a pattern of red associations but connotations of different things. The use of these conventions has helped to construct meaning. We used props such as red lipstick, red nail vanish, jewellery, red dress, red rose petals and blood. This connotes romance, passion or danger. We also used bright, sparkly jewellery which connotes gold. Black connotes death and evil, so therefore used a black glove to show thief and a black gun to show criminal acts.
When creating our teaser trailer our intentions was to keep the identity of the characters hidden from the audience consistently and we achieved this through the use of various shots, using different angles and positions for e.g. The low angle shot of holly at the bar slowly tilting towards showing her character, but then changing the shot before reaching her. This teases the audience, giving them hope of seeing who the character really is. This also tells the audience that she is an important character in the film, showing her with a sense of power, as the camera is focused on her only. We also used an over the, hand held shot for when the blood is dropping in the sink and the male character collapses to the floor. By using the camera at a high angle still hides the characters identity but adds a real life feeling to the audience's experience, making them feel involved in what's happening.
We used the obvious conventions of any other professional film for e.g. our editing process, which we developed gradually. Once our teaser trailer was complete, we decided to give it a slow emotion effect, which we had originally planned to do, but only with particular shots such as the gun shot, where it builds suspense and anxiety. We showed a sequence of shots when changing from shot to shot to build an effect of continuity and used specific shots (not revealing too much) to add to the enthusiasm of the audience.
Due to copy right issues we decided to produce our own music for our soundtrack. We used the idea of a slow and soft start to show a sense of innocence and harmless characters but as the music progresses it becomes louder, thicker and more aggressive building suspense and tension. This then takes away the innocence of the characters and gives the impression of violence and deceit. This also adds to the initiative of the title as it is called ‘good gone bad’ hence the music beginning with a ‘good’ vibe then progressing to a ‘bad’ vibe. We decided not use any other sound effects or digetic sound as the layout of the teaser trailer corresponded well with the layout of the soundtrack.
Our film poster uses familiar conventions of other published posters to advertise films. For e.g. our company’s logo, when the film will be released, big bold lettering and the creators of the film. It also displays a website of where more information can be found. The poster also uses bright colours to draw you in and one main image, telling you everything we want you to know about the context of the film.
When creating our film magazine front cover, we looked at other front covers to get inspiration when creating our own. We wanted to follow the forms and conventions of other magazine front covers so used a big bold title at the top of our page (in black). We viewed the title of our film, also in big, bold, bright colours, still using our colour code. We used a specific image to appeal to our target audience (a photo of Holly) smoking a cigarette and holding a gun in a calm and relaxed manner. We introduce other films based around the same genre for e.g. ‘dead man running’, ‘Harry Brown’ and ‘kickass’. We also mention it’s our biggest preview ever attracting our audience even more and using the term ‘EXCLUSIVE’ gives an impression of it being new, unique and something you’ve never seen before.
In most professional, promotional packages, women aren't seen as a murder, criminal or dangerous. Oppose to our teaser trailer, magazine front cover and poster we have victimised the men and portrayed the women as dominant figures. This challenges gender stereotypes and gives our teaser trailer our unique selling point (USP). We decided to break away from the norm empowering the women, which attracts both men and women in different ways. The fact that we decided to use different races for the characters, appeals to a broader audience and shows we have taken our audience's feedback into consideration. This also shows some evidence of research into films relating to out teaser trailer for e.g the idea of using different races is from the idea of using 'Charley's angels', showing three women of different races. It also makes it harder for the audience to verify who's doing what, where and when, leaving them wanting to find out by watching the film.