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

During the process of developing our media product we considered ways in which we challenge but yet develop from the forms and conventions of a general Slasher trailer.

At the very beginning of our trailer, you can see the BBFC rating card which is conventional within a formulaic trailer. As our film is a British independent film it was appropriate to use the British Board of film classification and not the MPAA rating card as the MPAA is an American association. The production company logos follow after, as this is also conventional. We featured film 4 productions, as one of the companies that helped produce our film since Film 4 are associated with low budget British films such as ‘Slumdog millionaire’. As the production logos appear on the screen, the quote from a classic slasher film, peeping tom, runs through as non-diegetic sound saying ‘Do you know what the most frightening thing in the world is? Its fear.’ This quote was specifically chosen from the film as it reminds the audience of the horror genre in general and that our villain is heavy influenced by this classic film. This over the shoulder shot consisted of a pull focus, at first the killer is apparent and the scene he is watching is in focus though this changes so the brutality of the seen is blurred out and the audience can focus on the killer. 

There are no close ups of the killer as we want to keep the enigma of villain and his mysterious motives.

A way we wanted to challenge the conventions was to shift Roland Barthes theory of the semantic code, switching up on whose perspective we are witnessing these death through. In general Slasher films these ghastly events happen through the point of view of the final girl. However since we researched how our audience liked films that challenged the codes and conventions such as 'final destination', we decided to place to audience in the shoes of our villain. This created an unsettling visual experience. We did this through several ways. Such as the use of the voice over, our villain was the one explaining to the audience his plans and presenting his obsession towards the slasher genre. His voice over occurred right at the start of the trailer over the shot of our final girl walking down the street, saying ‘Every equilibrium has to be disturbed, but how it is disturbed is up to me, I am the director..’ we wanted to portray the equilibrium by having our final girl walking down unaware of what is going to happen. Additionally we added a filter on the footage at this point to make every thing look softer, to elucidate the equilibrium. 

He then goes on to say ‘death is on my script’ as he says this there is a close up of the promiscuous girl to imply her murder is one of the first. This was done so the audience could understand that our film is a Meta text. Since our killer is describing the conventions within its own text, however he tells the audience he is going to break these conventions which was said to intrigue the audience to ponder how he is planning on shifting the conventions and also strengthening the idea of a modernised approach to a general Slasher film. Through this voice over the audience establish the killer which breaks the enigma code, this mystery with who the killer might be is completely written off as the audience know who it is, and is also put in the position of the killer. However the villains identity is not as obvious as there are no close ups so the audience are still required of some enigma but to an extent.

Through the trailer you see a glimpse of each character which have been chosen specifically to fit Vladimir Propp’s theory on character and function.

With the use of several close ups, the female protagonist who we establish as the ‘hero’ in terms of Propp’s theory, also in fact known as the final girl, was clearly displayed as she had the most screen time in the trailer in comparison to the other characters. We objectively wanted the audience to quickly recognise that she is the sole survivor, so we placed several close ups and extreme close ups just so the audience can be quick to I identify her character from the very beginning.  We incorporated long shots of our final girl walking past a church.                                                                                                                                                                                                        

As in most slasher films, the final girl is a virginal, respectful character, using Roland Barthes narrative theory of the referential code we wanted the ideology of her virginal innocence portrayed with the mise en scene.  Her costume also represented her character as the final girl since she was covered up most of the time in contrast to our other female character who was displayed as the promiscuous with displaying cleavage as she wore a tank top.
Also the colours the final girl wore were usually ‘blue’ and ‘white’ which conveyed her innocence to strengthen the referential code of her character. We wanted to portray the binary opposites that were usually seen in slasher films, such as the experienced vs the not experienced. However is general slasher films it is often the blonde that dies first as she is portrayed as the stereotypical promiscuous one. Since our trailer is modernised, as we challenged the semiotic codes to spark interest to our audience we chose a character for a final girl who is blonde and the promiscuous girl is brunette, just so the shift in society is present clearly and the audience do realise that this is a modernised interpretation of a slasher film, for example 'Prom night', as this film was quite a modern awakening for slasher films as well as 'Final destination'. Another binary opposite we wanted to display was good vs evil, the evil being the killer who was shown through a series of POV shots. Whenever we wanted to get across the killers point of view, we edited the screen to become a hand held camera or night vision by editing on filters and a red record button. From a POV shot of the killer it would juxtaposition to the semiotic code of the final girl.
Also the killer often wore dark clothes, which connotes mystery and the final girl work light colours, this was also away to present these clear binary opposites of good vs evil.

Our promiscuous girl had very little screen time to show her irrelevance to the plot. She often wore dark colours such as black, and dark red to reinforce the referential code, as red, and black connotes death, and danger.

By our character being assigned to wear these colours suggest she does live as long as the final girl (who wears the complete different colours to her). During the beginning of the trailer, the second shot is a medium shot of the ‘promiscuous girl’ running away from the villain, we placed this shot very early in the trailer as we wanted to portray that her character is the first to fall to her death. It is often seen in Slasher trailers that the one to be murdered first is the one is the one to be seen in a position where they are confronted by the killer first in the trailer. As the trailer progresses we get a glimpse of the promiscuous girl character. As she is on the phone she accidentally spills milk, present her ditsy nature emphasising that she is not as smart as the final girl and is incapable of defeating the villain. As she spills the milk, her face is not in the shot to depict her insignificance in comparison to the final girl. As she spills the milk, there is a shot from behind her with a hand held effect to show the killers perspective, this perspective is shot when she bends over to clean the spilt milk. In a subtle way we were reinforcing Laura Mulvey’s Male gaze theory since when she bends over she is put in the position of submission, especially being in the killers point of view, also her red bra strap is shown

to present he promiscuous entitlement as a character.

We establish more of the final girl character as she is involved in a conversation with another character. We wanted this conversation to be another way that the characters have realised the disruption and convey the recognition phase. Our final girl is seen to have conversation with a male character who is in fact in terms of Propps theory on character and functions, displayed as the false hero. He warns our final girl to stay away from this particular student (who is suspected to be the killer) calling him ‘dodgy’ demonstrating his awareness and recognition, though like the promiscuous girl his irrelevance to the plot is displayed through the use of screen time, as his character is not as

established as the final girl is.

By incorporating a fast pace montage sequence we were following the conventions of the Slasher genre style trailer, our montage sequence consisted of our characters in situations close to their deaths. Most of the montage sequence consisted of close ups and extreme close ups to highlight different characters and the distress across their face, and other shots. From Pam Cooks theory on the institutional mode of representation the montage sequence presents one out of four of the defining features of her theory which is ‘A linear narrative of cause and effect within an overall trajectory of enigma resolution’, though because a trailer is not a linear text the fast pace montage sequence only displays the cause and effects of the narrative. As the pace of the montage sequence increased, our music heightened in pitch to increase the tension, this technique is often seen in Slasher trailers. Out of all our characters, the promiscuous girl was put in situations that were more violent that the other character. For example, there is a medium shot where she is being dragged, and a hand held effect when she is strangled by our villain. This is another way in which we showed her character is the first to entail the deadly murder spree.  The last shot after the past pace montage sequence is finished is of the final girl running to a dead end and the killer appears holding a knife. This lets the audience debate whether she will survive.

Most of our cast were teenagers as we researched how the slasher genre is a genre aimed at young adults. By casting teenagers we wanted to create relevance to our particular target audience however the oldest member of our cast was the benefactor. The benefactor in conventional Slasher films are seen
to be the oldest out of the characters and the most professional. Our benefactor was a teacher
who picked up on unusual behaviour from a student through an essay. He is only established through two close up shots to show he is also a minor character. When the benefactor reads the essay, it is shown through a voice over of his character and a close up of the deadly words on the paper. At this point it shows the recognition stage of Tzvetan Todorov’s narrative theory since one character recognises the disruption. His non diegetic voice over, bridges to the killer’s point of view standing in front of a victims garage and fades into the killer’s voice. The audience knows it’s the killer’s voice since he narrated the start of our trailer. As our killer states ‘The lion stalking his prey, ready to take part his victim’, the first shot of our fast pace montage takes place, this non diegetic voice over encouraged the disruption.

From our research we understood that the Slasher genre incorporates some techniques from German expressionism. We decided to incorporate a certain technique known to the German expressionism and also the film noir movement. The last shot of our villain aggressive stabbing a victim. Though the victim is not in the shot, and the killers face is not seen due to the lighting. We used harsh lighting to create a shadow of our victim, despite seeing his body and figure, his true identity is not shown and that is because the harsh light creates a shadowy atmosphere conveying enigma.

The typography that is presented as our title is bold white and has sharp edges as it represents its genre by have the outline of the chosen weapon on our trailer. The titles fuzzed on to the screen, like a broken screen of a TV. Since the title is white it presents its equilibrium however having it distorted whilst on the screen shows the disruption. Additionally using more technology within our trailer (the electronic sounds,fuzzing of screen) shows the shift in society and how we have been prone to use technology more and making our slasher film come across as being contemporary to our target audience.

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For my magazine cover, I had to display that I had no ownership over the publication. The masthead was placed at the top of the magazine with 'Rue Morgues' tag line being ‘Horror in culture and Entertainment’. The colour of the mast head was light blue, red and black, this particular colour scheme ran through my magazine cover which is very conventional.

The main image consists of two important characters (the final girl and the villain) as this could increase brand identity of the film and also these two character are easily recognisable. The image is of the final girl looking away and the killer behind her holding two very symbolic props which are the camera and knife. I presented the knife on the front cover to appeal to the demographic of 'Rue Morgue' as they are horror fanatics. The knife is often associated with the slasher genre so I thought making the genre more apparent on the magazine was ideal to reach out to other audiences. Also using the camera as a prop was to encourage the films brand identity as the camera is very symbolic. The main image on a magazine had to be more gripping than the film poster as it is supposed to reassure a vast audience.

I used the same colour scheme that is consisted through the front cover on the typography.                                                                                         Other feature stories were coloured with either

baby blue, red, white. This follows the conventions of the general publication of 'Rue Morgue', however the main feature story being my film, is in the films typography. I and my group all decided to have the same typography consist in all our media products, even in our magazine since the magazine is helping the film promote its identity. The typography is white, bold and had sharp edges, to present the genre, though we added red dot in the middle of our ‘O’ as the ‘O’ looks like focus lines, and the red dot is very symbolic as it is seen to be on the screen whenever there is a POV shot of the killer to represent the record button. Incorporating this dot reinforced our brand identity. The bar code was placed on the left hand corner, which follows the conventions.

Rue Morgue is known to have publications that are illustrated and brightly coloured. To demonstrate that I had no rights over the copy of text I incorporated a brightly coloured light blue filter over my final girl and manipulated the image to seem as if it is illustrated. I chose the baby blue as it portrays the final girl’s innocence, the villain behind her is in black and white due to these colour contrasts it displays a clear binary opposite in terms of Levi Strauss which is Good vs Evil. Since the final girl is filtered in blue I added scratch marks only her, and not the killer. These scratch marks present the disturbance of the equilibrium in terms of Todorovs narrative theory since it has scratched the colour blue away. Additionally the masthead also has scratches to fit with the main image.
 The final girl is also seen to be bruised with a big black eye, this being apparent this also reinforced the disturbance. To present enigma our villains face is covered by the camera, to conceal his identity as if his camera is his mask. He has his arm raised as if he is about to lunge for the final girl and she has no clue due to her facial expression, and her looking up. This main image presents violence, as I’ve said before, the main image of the magazine has to be gripping, or even gruesome, by having a semi violent picture I am following the codes and conventions, intriguing the audience of 'Rue Morgue'.

The Film poster portrayed more enigma than the magazine. The main image is on a black background to portray the shadows that our killer is hiding behind. Due to the fact the killer uses the camera as if it’s his mask. The audience only see the hands of the killer, as Roland Barthes theory states as being the Enigma code, this image sets up the mystery on the killer’s identity. This shot is an extreme close up of the killer holding his lens, the final girl is seen through the reflection with a shocked expression on her face. This displays a certain point of Todorovs narrative theory of the classic narrative pattern, which is recognition stage, as we see a glimpse of the final girl and her reaction through her first encounter with villain. This image also abides by the general semiotic code in Slasher films, as this is in the point of view of the final girl. The audience is placed in the position of the final girl due to the reflection of the final girl in the lens. Placing the main prop for our film, being the camera, in the centre strengthens the films iconography, and increases recognition. There are scratches on the hands of the killer, too look as if murder is written on his hands and to convey the mystery of his motives.

The title is placed at the bottom of the image along with the credits and the tag line is placed at the top. This is a conventional way or organising the text on the poster. The typography of the film have been consistent through all my media products as it conveys the slasher genre due to its sharp edges, and the red dot (conveying the record button as it is very symbolic), however the typography for the tagline is completely different though it also convey the horror genre. The tagline is also ironic as it says 'Smile for the camera' and the image shows the reflection of a shocked looking final girl. The age rating is placed on the right hand side, at the bottom along with other production logos as well as this at the top there is a film festival nomination to generate acclaim critics. I also included the website on the poster as the poster promotional tool (like the other two media products) these are conventional positions to where I

have placed the credits, title, production logos, website and festival nomination.

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