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

To construct the trailer I firstly needed to understand the typical conventions of a romantic comedy trailer. Therefore I used the popular web page youtube to do this. I firstly looked at any romantic comedy trailer British/American, modern or classic. I then discovered that to make the product work I had to think 'simplicity' and therefore I used the modern British romantic comedy trailer as my muse.

The trailer I used was 'Bridget Jone's Diary- The Edge of Reason' which is posted onto my blog when I originally noted the key conventions. I listed a few conventions down that I really wanted to use and develop in my trailer.

*There was easy, feel good music at the beginning of the trailer

*The characters voice over appeared before the main voice over

*After the production company and distribution team e.g. Universal, there is a change of music

*There is a montage in the middle of the trailer with short 'teaser' shots of what the film might contain and be about. There is a voice over on top to explain what the main plot of the actual film is about

*The music changes continuously in a romantic comedy trailer. This would be to keep the interest of the audience. The new music also applies to what is happening on the screen.

*The main cast list can be heard by the voice over whilst there is action on screen

*There are no fades within a romantic comedy trailer they dissolve into the next shot.

The conventions I have listed are all the ones I used in my own trailer. Below I have briefly explained other conventions I noted and why I did things the way I did. I have done a voice over onto the work I have produced. Unfortunately I was unable to keep the voice over as it sounded too complicated to listen to. However, I have uploaded a final version in another blog which you can listen to.

As my teaser trailer is short I shall now explain, further, why I chose particular conventions and forms to develop into my own new trailer.

Pastel colours:

Earlier in the process I created a mood board of images from previous romantic comedies. In this I noticed that to create a conventional trailer I needed to use very pastely shades when constructing costumes, especially for the protagonist. On the left you can see screen shots I have taken and placed in my own mood board to show how the colours set the feel for the film. The pictures are not dark, like a horror trailer mood board would be. Instantly an audience can see it is of a lighter hearted genre- a comedy or romantic comedy. Sometimes I had to go against the conventions due to weather conditions in December time and allowed my cast to wear coats. However, the clear day and sun light cancelled the darkness of the costume out. I also noticed that in a romantic comedy trailer it only ever rains when someone is upset. Luckily in my trailer the weather held out so I was able to keep the upbeat feel to the trailer when we shot scenes outside.

Music:

Music is a very important part of a romantic comedy trailer, or any trailer in fact. Therefore I wanted to get it completely right.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dcISkzhrU84

If you click the link above you will be able to watch one of the trailers I clearly chose conventions from, one being the music. I realised that a form for the music was that all the music was related to either the action on screen or the story itself. I was careful when developing this convention as with any trailer you want people to have ideas about the film but not know the entire plot. I think I have developed this well and picked good songs to appeal to my target market and fit with the action on screen.

Cuts:

After looking at many romantic comedy trailers I noticed that they used mainly cross dissolves and no fades like other trailers did. Therefore, in the editing process I used cross dissolves into the next shot. If you click the link below you will see that the director has chosen to dissolve each shot into the next...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PNBXHp2qbRo

I used this editing technique in my own work to keep the romantic comedy trailer conventional.

This convention is particularly important during the montage towards the end of the trailer. The short clips of what the film is about is compulsory to add to the drama and keep the audience interested without giving away the story. The cuts in this particular section needed to be slick and conventional. Therefore I continued to use the cross dissolve in the next shot so the scenes flowed even though they wouldn't necessarily appear linear in the film.

180 degree rule:

In every media product this rule is a basic guideline and most products do not break this. To keep to a conventional form of a romantic comedy trailer I did not break the 180 degree rule in each shot I filmed. This rule states that two characters or other elements in the same scene should always have the same left/right relationship to each other.

In my trailer this form is evident when the characters of Gracie and Justin are picking up the folder that Gracie had previously dropped. Even though it is a close up shot Gracie is always seen on the right and Justin is always on the left. The camera never crosses the imaginary axis to create a reverse angle.

Important camera angles: I wanted to use a variety of conventional camera angles that worked within the trailer. Below is a short video of my different camera angles explained and reasons as to why I changed some shots and didn't use them.

From the convention of using pastel tones and the lighting needing to be bright I wanted this to be the case. Therefore, some of the shots I had to get rid of because you couldn't see what the character was doing and it was unclear. But, also to stick to the convention of everything being bright and sunny in a romantic comedy trailer. As previously stated, it only ever rains in a romantic comedy when someone is crying!

Production and Distribution:

Even though my trailer has been made on a low budget with low definition cameras, I chose to produce and distribute my trailer with big film companies such as Universal and Mirimax.

The British film- Angus Thongs and Perfect Snogging is a low budget romantic comedy however they used big companies such as Paramount to help produce the film and Universal to help distribute the film globally to generate a profit. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0963743/companycredits

I have chosen to stick to this particular convention that even though my trailer is of a low budget it would still be distributed globally by a major company; Universal.

Voice-over:

The voice over is something that I probably would change if I had the time to. It was the one convention I challenged but I feel it still works well.

The form I challenged in the voice over was having a female recording it. I did some research into why women are not given the chance to do voice overs on films. I found that it was because their voices can sometimes not be as persuasive or dominating as a male voice over.

However, in this day and age I think it is time women were given the chance to record a film voice over so in that case, if this trailer were to be made into a real film it would open up many opportunities for women in the voice over industry. I still think the voice over works because I used other conventions of a trailer voice over. I didn't use it all the way through, it tells of the themes, basic plot, cast and the name of the film. Moreover, there are many British films which use a British voice over. (Click the link below)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hvmciQ2GG1g

Therefore, even though I have challenged the convention of using a female voice over instead of a male voice over, I have still used other typical conventions of a voice over in a romantic comedy trailer.

As you can see I have used and developed nearly all of the possible forms and conventions I could use to make my trailer look and feel like a romantic comedy trailer. The convention I slightly challenged still works and doesn't affect the overall conventional romantic comedy trailer. It makes it a little innovative yet conventional.

Who are your target audience?

Romantic comedies have always been targeted at a specific market- teenage girls. This is apparent in box office sales, DVD sales etc... When we stereotype a person who watches a romantic comedy you do, as previously stated, picture a female who is from the socio economic grouping of B, C1, C2 or D. These people would be the every day sort of teen.However I wanted to change the audience for a romantic comedy by broadening the target market to both genders.

I focused on the comedic side (screen shots on left) of the rom-com and had a lead female. As most menenjoy a comedy film I felt that to get them to enjoy the rom-com I needed to focus on the comedy in the three products I made. In a recent survey it has been understood there are 10 romantic comedy films that men would watch!! Some of them include; 'About a boy', 'When Harry Met Sally', 'Love Actually' and of course 'Breakfast at Tiffany's.' I noticed that the majority of the selected films were British films and therefore I automatically stood a chance that men would actually watch my rom-com from the trailer I had produced. My market research suggested that I make the genre appealing to men. I feel that I have attempted to do this and done it well. Also with the slogan 'Open your heart to change' I believe this has many different meanings. Obviously, it fits with the trailer. However, it can also apply to the change in men openly watching a romantic comedy film.

I would probably certify my film at a 15 because of the referencing to 'sex' and maybe some of the innuendo that is featured in the trailer. I also feel that this certification fits well with the genre as other romantic comedies are rated at this age. Both the British romantic comedies on the left are aged 15 and above.

So from my three products you can see that my target audience would be both genders above the age of 15 and who fit into a socio-economic grouping of B, C1, C2 and D.

What have I learnt from audience feedback?

Above is a Wordle review of my three products that I have produced. I asked my target market so sum up the products in one or two words. If you double click the image you will see that all of my target market really did like the brand. This has put me in a positive frame of mind about the products. Obviously I will critic my own work but hearing it from other people's points of view has made me proud of the work I have done.

Throughout the process I constantly asked members of my target audience whether or not they are enjoying the trailer, what needs to be changed and/or added. This really helped with the moving images I put on the screen and music choices. It was suggested that I use current music so that it would appeal to my niche market. From the reviews you can see that the overall products were successful.

I was constantly learning from audience feedback whether it be from tutors or audience members. The tutors have taught me new editing skills and given their honest opinions throughout (you can see this on the comments they have posted below some blog entries) Some of the ideas I used and others I rejected as they don't necessarily fit my target audience and what they wanted.

I didn't ask opinions on the magazine and poster as I felt that I knew what I wanted from them and as a member of the target audience they would appeal to the rest of the market. The main product was the one I focused on heavily as that is the product people are most likely to see. Whether it be in the cinema, internet or television. I am happy with the audience feedback and I did ask people to be honest. As its all positive I know feel I have done a good job!

How effective is the combination of your main product and subsidiary tasks?

The combination of my main product and subsidiary tasks are very effective as I have created a marketing brand for the film. Each product contains similar lexis, the poster and trailer have the same slogan and every product has the title featured clearly on it in the same font style and colours. The protagonist also features in all three products so an audience can establish who is in the film. I made sure I controlled each product when it came to making them effective because I wanted to concentrate on what my target audience wanted to gain from the products.
My market research helped in creating each product and this has made them even more effective. When I interviewed members from my target audience they suggested they wanted a romantic comedy to appeal to both genders. I believe I have done this effectively.
The special edition which features in a predominantly male magazine will make the film appeal to men. If it's in the magazine they may give the film a chance. Also the influential actors are on the front cover. The girl for the 'eye candy' and the man for men to look up to and maybe become a role model. The magazine title 'Action' is catchy and applies to both men and women because both genders enjoy a good film. On the front cover you can see that it's not just 'A girl next door' that features in the magazine. There is a list of recommended films that people must see. Men might buy it for that reason but then at least they know about the film and may give it a chance. The poster is simple but effective and relates to the advertising brand. Using the girl on the front would draw in both genders. I think the slogan is also good for bringing in a male audience to the film; 'Open your heart to change.' This works with the trailer and what takes place within the film but its almost a revolutionary suggestion that men begin to watch romantic comedies.

The trailer is also effective when drawing in a new audience. It is a female voice over so men might be interested by the female voice luring them into see the film. As well as this I tried to make the trailer conventional for a romantic comedy but really focus on the comedy side. This is because most men watch comedies. If they can get the humour from the trailer they may want to watch the film. I believe expanding the conventional 'female niche market' has been effective and I feel it would work if the film was released.

All my products are effective because they stick to conventions of a romantic comedy genre. Target markets didn't want a specific new twist on the genre they just wanted it to appeal to a wider audience. People don't necessarily enjoy twists to such an iconic genre of film so I thought it would be best to do some in-depth research and textual analysis into all three products to make them conventional and appealing. The only un-conventional change I made was making the voice over of the trailer female. However this was to draw in the male audience. I have made changes to each product and developed ideas so that they worked better as a brand. The rejected ideas for each product have always been because they may not have necessarily worked or been effective towards the product. I haven't necessarily had any major catastrophes within this process or anything I couldn't get around.

These are some of the pictures I rejected for my subsidiary tasks due to the fact they weren't of high quality and didn't necessarily fit with drawing in a male audience. With the equipment I used I wasn't able to edit the pictures effectively.

I am happy with the final three products and I feel they are effective because they have created a brand for the film, appeal to a wider audience and stick to typical conventions.

Ancillary tasks- final versions

Magazine front cover:

This is the final version of my magazine front cover. I am really happy with it and I feel that it fits the typical conventions of a magazine front page. I managed to add to the conventions by putting all the persuasive lexis on the left hand side along with a bar code. The protagonist is featured on the left hand side because she will sell the magazine to both a male and female audience. As most film magazines are predominantly bought by men I feel this is a good technique I have used to get a new

male audience to read and buy a magazine which features a romantic comedy film exclusive. The magazine cover is simple but affected and all the information is clear on the cover.

Poster:
This is my final version of my film poster. I like the simplicity and conventional look to the poster. The target audience immediately see one of the films stars, the name of the film, the caption and who else is in the film. These are the main things that people look for on a poster. The certification of the film would be later confirmed just as other film companies do that is why it does not feature on the poster. It is conventional to the romantic comedy film genre due to the colours and lexis. Words like 'heart' and 'change'. Many romantic comedy films use different posters to appeal to a range of audiences. If I had the time I would have made another poster with one of the male leads on it. This would also appeal to the male and female audience. Men aspire to be that particular character and women want to see it because he is popular. However, this poster also appeals to men and women and this was one of the main issues I faced when creating a romantic comedy trailer. I have created a 'brand' by using similar images from the trailer, the same colours and font that feature in the trailer and one of the lines from the voice over used in the trailer. Each time the target audience see the trailer they can relate it to the rest of the marketing and then think and decide to go and see the film because they know how much it has been advertised.

Exclusive...'A girl next door' trailer

I have completed the trailer!! I am very happy with the overall feel of the trailer and I feel it is conventional. I made sure I did enough research before making the trailer so that it does fit into the romantic comedy genre.
The only risk I took with making the trailer is the fact that I have, in the end, used a female voice over. This was mainly down to time and illness of my male voice over. However, I feel it works. The voice is strong and persuasive like any male voice over would be. It also opens a 'new' market for females to start doing film voice overs, because they do work with the correct voice. I wanted my trailer to stand out so I needed to challenge one convention to make it innovative and memorable.

Magazine front cover

I have been working on a conventional film magazine front cover. I am happy with the outcome however, I need to add a barcode to the product to make it completely conventional.

I have used the word 'Action' as my masthead. I feel it is catchy and like 'Empire' has two syllables. The white writing stands out without making it over power the image. I have included a price and date.

The persuasive lexis such as 'massive' 'special' 'exclusive' also make the consumer want to buy the magazine as they want to know all of the inside information first about the new film.

As i previously stated this isn't the final version, I need to add the barcode and I may change the pink writing to a colour which stands out more and is more conventional to the male audience. However, the 'Empire' front cover with Keira Knightley on has feminine font colours. I shall see which looks best and then upload the better looking one.