1.

In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions
of real media products?
What media platform have you used to present your video and ancillary texts?
What are the genre conventions? (compare to existing examples.)
How have you conformed to the forms and conventions? (consider technical, symbolic, verbal,
genre) Reference illustrative examples from your own products.
Did you make a conscious decision to challenge any forms and conventions? Explain with
reference to illustrative examples from your own texts and compare to examples from professional
media texts.
Have they proven successful? Have you developed (extended/improved/made more prevalent)
any existing conventions in your own video and ancillary texts?

TRAILER:
- I have conformed to the convention of having my film set in a urban environment by setting
Reasons Beyond Insanity in London and showing that through different shots in my trailer. There
are two mid-shots on the London Underground, one of which is Blair and Abigail on the tube and
then another of Blair waiting for a train by herself. I have also included a time-lapse halfway
through the trailer to show Blairs progression into becoming somebody much darker whilst also
showing the urban environment in which the film is set.
- I have also adhered to using low lighting and creating lots of shadows in my trailer. Through
shooting mainly a night I have guaranteed that low lighting is being used which in turn creates
many shadows. The close up shots of Blair show the shadows across her face and make the
scenes much darker. The bottom left hand corner picture shows low lighting being used and
makes the shot much more mysterious as you cant completely see whats happening in the 1
second clip that I showed in the trailer. The top right hand corner picture is very dark and the
headlights from the car create Blairs silhouette which is very eerie and creates lots of shadows
in the shot.
- We shot almost all of our trailer by holding the camera to create a slightly shaky effect. I think
that this is really successfully in showing the mental instability of the character as you kind of
see the world more through their eyes as everything seems to be shaking and falling apart. You
can particularly see it in the close up shot of Blair walking down the street and the camera
moves with her.
- I adhered to the style of quick editing and using different angles in the flashback sequence of my
trailer. The quick style of editing is very typical of the psychological thriller genre and I feel like
this is very successfully followed in the trailer for Reasons Beyond Insanity. Every time the you
cut back to see Blair is bed it is from a different angle, as are the flashbacks to the night before.
This gives a variety of shots to the trailer and makes the audience a little more confused as the
quick editing doesnt give them that much time to think about what is going on. Quick editing was
also used at the end of my trailer in the montage.
- iconography - reflective surfaces. I have followed iconography which is very present in
psychological thrillers, reflective surfaces such as mirrors and water. In Black Swan there is a
scene where Nina is screaming underwater and I wanted to replicate that in my trailer by having
a close up shot of Blair doing the same thing. I feel that this is very effective in showing her
descent into insanity. There is also a lot of mirrors in psychological thrillers and by having an
over the shoulder shot of Blair smashing one shows that she is mental unstable.
- iconography - make up. make up helps to show the deterioration of the character and through
having Blairs make up get worse and worse throughout the trailer through close up shots I have
demonstrated well the genre of this film as she is clearly breaking down in some way.

POSTER:
- I have created my poster so that it is portrait as this makes it easier to be advertised in
magazines as well as tube stations. This will promote my film and make it more noticeable to the
general public. In the tube there are posters everywhere and we subconsciously take them in
and I think that having the poster for my film being in one of these advertising spots will really
help Reasons Beyond Insanity get well known.
- CC of genre: the picture for the poster of psychological thriller films are usually a portrait of the
protagonist and them looking into the camera in a certain way that tells the audience there is
something slightly wrong. Here, you can see for the Black Swan poster there is a crack along
her face to show how fragile she is and that something has broken inside of her. Also, for the Mr

Brooks poster he is golding a part of the image and removing some of his face. This suggests
that there is something darker going on inside the character and further suggests their instability.
There is also a dark colour scheme to reflect the darkness of the film. Black and white is often
used to show depression and the bleak atmosphere of the movie
- CC generally: critic quotes, the name of the main actor / actors, small writing info stuff, strap line,
date line
- My poster: I have the main actors names at the top of the poster. There is a critic quote in the
middle of my poster at the top, I feel that the placing of this quote brings more attention to it. I
have followed Black Swans poster by having only one quote as it is not too overwhelming for
the audience to have lots of writing filling pup all the space. I have subverted conventions by not
having a tag line as when I did this in the first draft of my poster it was too overbearing and took
up a lot of space on the page. I also felt that it ruined the overall feel of the poster and decided it
would look more spooky and eerie without too much writing all over the picture. My picture is a
portrait with shadows over the protagonists face and I feel like this conforms to posters of this
film genre. The shadows over her face suggest that theres a darker side to her. I subverted the
codes and conventions of having the date of release on the poster as I felt it took up too much
space and I wanted the focus to be primarily on Blair.

WEBSITE:
- Here is what the homepage of my website looks like. If you click on this picture it will send you to
the website. As you can see I created a small montage of clips from my trailer in black and white
for the background of my homepage.
- CC of websites: Websites tend to reflect the poster. They will have the same fonts, show the
director, use similar pictures. I followed the codes and conventions used for the website for the
film Crimson Peak where they have a small montage of shots from the film as the background of
the homepage. They also have a square image with writing and information about the film in
front of this video. As you can see there is clear continuity across the poster and website for this
film. There is also a link to all of the social media pages on the website. There are different
pages on the website that give the reader more information. There is often a page for the trailer,
the gallery, synopsis, the cast and a get tickets page so that it is easier for people to go out and
see the film.
- My website: I have followed these codes and conventions in my website. I have used the same
fonts across both of my ancillary texts. I was inspired by the Crimson Peak website page and
have included a short montage as the background for my website.
- I have also made sure there are clear links to all of the social media pages on my website with
the small icons on the top right hand side of the page. When you click on one of these icons it
will take you straight to the social media page. media convergence has become an essential
part of a movie website. this helps promote the film and build up hype online. i have created
facebook, twitter, YouTube and tumblr pages and here are some pictures of what each page
looks like. as you can see they're very similar and i have done this to create a sense of
continuity across all the media platforms i am using.
- I also have lots of different pages on my website for the trailer, the synopsis, a gallery, the
synopsis, pictures of the cast and also a picture of the poster.I feel like my website definitely
reflects my poster as I have a similar picture for the background of my synopsis page and I have
also included the poster as a page in my website. Menu bars are so important as they allow the
reader to explore the website and get a better feel for what the film is like and what its about.

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2.How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary texts?

Things to consider in your answer:

You must illustrate your answer. Show that you have created synergy across your 3 products in
your design, layout, construction of representations, mise-en-scene, colour scheme etc etc
You need to evidence how your products will be easily identifiable to your audience.
Comment on how you think they are successful? Are you happy with it? Does it meet the
expectations/conventions
desired?
Theory to incorporate?:
Audience theory (Uses and gratification, demographics and psychographics)

Reception theory
Representation Ideology, Laura Mulvey Male Gaze, stereotypes, countertypes
Narrative theory

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FONT = I have combined my main product and ancillary texts mainly through having a similar

design and layout throughout my different products. I used the same fonts for my poster and
website, to create a sense of continuity. The font for the quote on my poster is the same as the font
used for the rest of my writing on my website. I used the same colour scheme of black and white
with my fonts as I felt this was simple and I had seen it with other films like Black Swan. Because
none of us used the same font on our posters we couldnt have a font that matched all of our
posters at the end of our trailer. We chose one that looked the most similar to all of our fonts. I feel
like even though these arent the same font, the link between the trailer and my poster and website
is clear to see. I think it is still successful as the font is similar enough for people to know that its
the same movie.

!COLOUR SCHEME = The colour scheme is very similar across my ancillary texts and main media
product. I used very low saturated colours and dull tones to create a bleak vibe to my film. Having
a similar colour scheme makes the link easier to create for the audience.

!CLIPS / PHOTOS = I also used the same clips and pictures from my trailer in my poster and

website. The picture on my poster is also a clip in my trailer and in the montage on my website. For
the background of my website I have a small collection of clips from my trailer playing to show a
clear connection between the two. But I didnt use the clips in colour as I felt it looked more
effective in black and white. This subverts conventions as it sort of changes the dynamic of the
film, but still makes Lydias insanity very clear. You can also watch the trailer on the website and it
is very easy to access and see. You can watch the trailer and then look at the social media pages
and share the video or just share your thoughts on the film.

!CONVERGENCE = I have created different social media pages for my film. I have linked them in

the top right hand corner of my website and the layout and design for each of pages is the same. I
have a white background and the font I used at the end of the trailer showing the name of the film.
There is also a picture of Lydia which is very similar to the picture used for my poster, but just from
a different angle. It is important to be present on social media as this is the best form of promotion
for your trailer, it gets people talking about your film and sharing it and getting more well-known.

!REPRESENTATION = I have represented Blairs insanity clearly through all 3 texts. The shadows
across her face in the poster clearly show theres something wrong with her and a clip of this
picture is in the trailer and also in the short montage on the website. I have also used the same
picture on the synopsis page of my website.

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3. What have you learned from your audience feedback?

Design a questionnaire. This can be carried out via survey monkey, social media and/or vox
pops.
This question should be presented in a film format and is arguably the most complex to
answer.
The questionnaire must obtain feedback on the music video AND ancillary texts.
When analysing the feedback, consider WHO you are interviewing. Are they a cross section
of society, niche market or selection of the target audience? Which do you think would be
most appropriate?
When analysing their response consider incorporating Stuart Halls reception theory (and
other audience theory). You will have to consider how you build this into your original
questions in order to extract the most useful information out of their responses.
Consider comparing the response of different demographic groups. Male vs female perhaps?
(Particularly if you have constructed positive/negative stereotype/countertypes associated
with gender)

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! 4. How did you use media technologies in the construction and research, planning and
evaluation stages?

You are effectively auditing your skills as a Media student.

There should be some reflection about how you have progressed since AS and what was
different about this unit.

Use Bubbl.us to create a detailed mind map exploring the answer (1 for research, planning
and evaluation?) Support with a written post supported with screen grabs and photographs
documenting your personal development

Research:

- Google was a good way of researching the codes and conventions of the psychological thriller

genre. I watched many slideshare presentations on the history of the genre and the codes and
conventions of this genre.

- I also used YouTube for listening to soundtracks to see what kind of sound I wanted to have in
my trailer. I also used YouTube to watch psychological thriller trailers and then analyse them.

- I used word to create the questionnaire.

- I used weekly to present my brainstorms and initial ideas at the beginning of the process. My

blog helped me show all of my written work that would not otherwise be seen.

Planning:

- We used the GOOGLE DRIVE to plan our filming schedule. We had December to March on our
planner and we just filled in the dates that we were available to film and shared the file with the
actors. We also put in which scenes we would be filming whenever everyone was available to
film. We decided to do this because we had some problems making sure everybody was
available to film and to have everyone in the same place at the same time. This helped us
organise our time better and organise which shots we would film once were together instead of
wasting time once we had gotten round to filming.

- WEEBLY was used quite a lot throughout the planning of my trailer to show the storyboards and

shot lists that we had created on paper as a group. I used this to solidify my storyboard as well
as my shot list. I also used weebly to present my power points. Here is my research and
planning presentation which I originally uploaded to YouTube and then presented to the class.

Construction:

- PHOTOSHOP = I used photoshop to design the poster for Reasons Beyond Insanity. I found this
tool incredibly useful in the creation of this ancillary text and it is probably the best tool for editing
pictures. As you can see on the left hand side there is a huge amount of tools available to you to
edit your picture in many different ways.

- INDESIGN = I used InDesign to create my font for the poster. I had chosen a font and then

because I wanted the writing to be split down the middle I had to create it myself and I did that
through InDesign.

- FINAL CUT PRO X = I used Final cut pro X to create and edit my trailer. It is a high quality

software and there is a huge amount of tools available. The main tools I used were the select
tool as well as the blade tool and range selection tool. The blade tool was used the most as it
is the best one to use when creating montages, you can easily cut clips into short shots of about
1 second. It is a software that is used by professionals and so is incredibly useful.

- DREAMWEAVER = I used dreamweaver to code my website. It is quite a complex program as

you can see here. I had never used this program before so I used a template and then added in
all of the different components I wanted in my website.

Evaluation:

- Quick time player = I used quick time player when answering all of the questions to my

evaluation. I used the screen recording tool to record the screen and then recorded the audio on
my iPhone and put it into iMovie.

- iMovie = I used iMovie to put my evaluation together. I dont have final cut pro on my laptop

otherwise I would have used that because it is a much better program. However, iMovie was
much more accessible for me and I was able to get more done. So I used the tools available to
me on iMovie to put the audio and screen recordings together for my evaluation.

- Keynote = Keynote was key in answering my questions for the evaluation. I used this to present
the answers for some of my questions.

- Prezi = I didnt want to use one media platform to answer all of my questions so I chose an

online media platform called Prezi which is like a Powerpoint presentation but it had a bit more
flexibility and it made more of an animated feel to it. I used prezi to answer question 1 of my
evaluation.

- Slideshare = I also used slideshare as another media platform to present one of my answers on

for my evaluation. I used slideshare a lot throughout this year and I have put other slideshare
presentations that I have made on my blog. I really like this media platform so I decided to use it
to answer the 2nd question of my evaluation.

- Powtoon (?)
- Weebly = I used weekly once again to present all of my answers to the evaluation. On the
Evaluation page of my blog they are all in the same place which makes it easy to find.