A2 media Coursework: In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

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

Our final media product Paranoia made by the shut up production is a theatrical trailer which is released after the premiere of its movie, Paranoia is a suspense movie about a girl who goes to a club and takes a drug from a stranger that causes memory loss. The stranger also slips a packet when

the protagonist is not looking that causes a drug dealer to stalk her in order to retrieve the package. Since the protagonist has no recollection of the night before, she cannot fathom as to why would someone follow her and eventually makes her paranoid when she feel someone’s existence but cannot be sure.

Most of the suspense/horror trailer we have analyzed are divided intro three parts following Hollywood narrative structure. First portion gives the exposition, second portion give the conflict and third focuses on more fast paced scenes to build up the tension. The trailers usually end in a climax scene. The transition between these three stages are usually accompanied by change in music, sound effects and visual effects (captions).

Time duration:

Our trailer is 2:10 minutes long and follows most of the codes and conventions of Hollywood theatrical trailers. All suspense movies show the Hollywood narrative structure.Like shown in the first act of the Hollywood narrative structure, exposition and the beginning of the rising action or the source of the conflict is introduced. In the trailer of similar genres the exposition usually takes up more than one third of the entire trailer. For example in ‘And soon the Darkness’ the exposition lasts for about 40 seconds, In ‘Prom night’ it took about 55 seconds and in ‘Room mate’ the exposition last for about 52 seconds. In our trailer the exposition last for about 56 seconds.

After the exposition, different scenes from the movies are arranged in such manner to give the audience a perception of the conflict yet keeping some content hidden or unclear. The duration for the rising conflict is another one third of the trailer duration. In And soon the darkness 00:40 – 01:23 the conflict is shown and in the When a stranger calls, the conflict lasts between 00:56 to 01:40 minutes and in the trailer of ‘Gone’ the rising action lasts between 00:26 - 01:17 minutes.

The remaining time duration is filled with more fast paced scenes with more enigmatic music and sound effects.

Editing:

Extreme closeup from Paranoia

The editing done in our final trailer follows all the conventions in the suspense movies. The trailer starts with the rating card suggesting that the trailer is R rated and audience above 18 are advisable to watch. Like few trailers the media house appears after the trailer has begin and one or two scenes have been shown. For example in ‘When a stranger calls’ and in ‘Roommate’ the name of the media house appears after a couple of expository shots. We however show the shut up production in the beginning.

Extreme Closeup from Roommate

Our film is mostly focused on a single character therefore we have taken most of the mid and close-up of the characters paranoid reaction. However we have shown reverse shot and two shots of the protagonist and antagonist and of protagonist and her friend.Trailers of similar genre also focus on the closeups of the main character looking frightened, confused or distressed. In almost all suspense trailers concerning teenagers, the extreme closeup of eyes is used accompanied with the dramatic sound effect.

We have used fade out effects to show ellipsis after the drink shot to indicate something happened with the protagonist but we have not revealed it. An example is also shown in the movie Gone where fade out effects are used after the main protagonist enters the room looking for her sister

Captions are filled in trailer to make the viewer more aware of the what may happen next. such effects are accompanied with dramatic effect to give a more ominous look.
There are however more captions when the conflict on the movie is shown where the viewer not only listens to more dialogues but also reads more material on the screen. We have followed the convention of keeping more dialogues in the second half of the trailer.

Caption of And soon the darkness

Caption of Paranoia

The shots and video’s are tinted bluish green in many suspense trailers to depict more seriousness or dilemma throughout the trailer. Below are the examples of the different tints applied to the footage in our product and the product of similar genres:

Close up of a protagonist in Gone

Close up of the protagonist in Paranoia.

Notice the bluish shade on the frame.

Eiting is done on the suspense trailers on the scene which lead to another conflict or another fast paced scene. For example in the movie 'When a stranger calls' a scene where the girl screams is shown in black and white, and in

A scene from paranota

Similarly we have used a sketch effect on the glass scene as this scene is a synapse between exposition and the conflict.

A scene from when a stranger calls

Sound:

Our film however challenges some conventions of having dialogues. We kept minimal dialogues and we have used change in music throughout the trailer.

We have also added a 'boom' like sound effect after every caption appears. this convention has been followed on several suspense trailers.

The sound also follows a pattern in conventional teenage suspense trailers where in the first part, the music is pleasant and after the conflict is introduced, changes to slow, conspicuous like music accompanied with dialogues. Towards the end the music becomes fast paced with more sound bridges and towards the end the music abruptly ends with dietetic gasp, scream or a non dietetic sound bridge usually a ‘boom’ like string. We have used a diegetic sound bridge of a scream which the viewer listens to even after the knife scene has ended and the title paranoia appears on the screen.

Media Text:

A shown in many suspense trailers, small objects that cause the conflict or are th focal point of rising actions are shown on a more slower and deliberate way. For example in the beginning of When a stranger calls, the a phone shot has been used in the beginning and throughout the trailer the protagonist is shown receiving calls from a stranger. Similarly in our movie we have emphasized on the glass shot when a solute is being poured in it with more dramatic sound bridge and effects to make the audience feel that now the conflict would begin.

Close up of an object form When a stranger Calls

Close up of an object form Paranoia

In suspense trailers the main protagonist is usually the female and also the victim of the antagonist which is usually a male serial killer, drug lord, or a vengeful murderer etc, there is always a scene shown where the antagonist strikes when the protagonist lease expects for example the protagonist may be unaware that the antagonist is behind her ready to attack. This element of surprise is usually shown towards the end of the trailer