IN WHAT WAYS DOES YOUR MEDIA PRODUCT USE, DEVELOP OR CHALLENGE FORMS AND

CONVENTIONS OF REAL MEDIA PRODUCTS?

Analysed Existing TrailersMy film trailer follows the conventions of existing action/ horror film trailers. The trailers I analysed were Fury, Resident Evil: Afterlife and 300: Rise of an Empire.

Horror Genre The generic conventions found in the action genre are darker themes, more blood and

gore in scenes and generally very tense editing. Zombies and other supernatural creatures are also common themes for horror films.

This is shown in Resident Evil: Afterlife, which is a zombie film that consists of many violent scenes and dark, tense editing.

Action Genre The generic conventions of action tend to be about a hero or a team of heroes that

overcome a problem or an antagonist. They tend to have action sequences where stunts are performed and feature explosions and visually pleasing visuals.

Both Fury and 300: Rise of an Empire are both action films. 300: Rise of an Empire is largely made of action scenes where fighting and quick editing is found. The trailer is heavily reliant on the beat of the soundtrack, changing image or speeding up the pace every drum beat. The fast editing really gives it an action feel.

Fury is has a slower pace but features other popular action conventions, such as explosions and large, interesting vehicles, such as tanks.

The story is about the heroes overcoming the antagonists for both films and is escalated to the level of war.

Action/Horror Hybrid Genre ‘Road to Elysium’ uses conventions of both genres and therefore is

a hybrid genre of both. The story is largely an action story, featuring Vance Westfall (the soldier) and Jason (the zombie) as the heroes of the story, who fight to overcome the apocalypse and the villain, Colonel Autumns.

The trailer takes on elements of horror by being a Zombie film and has darker themes of being set during the end of the apocalypse.

Audiences Audiences expect to see reoccurring

traits from both genres. Therefore I have made sure to use conventions that inspire action and horror in my trailer to create a sense of familiarity for the audience.

The trailer is fairly fast place and shows interesting visuals to inspire the audience. The characters are fairly stereotypical for action films.

The audience that my trailer was aimed at was 18+, although it may be lowered to 15+. The film carries darker themes and would contain violent scenes that would make younger audiences uneasy.

Challenging Conventions The way that my film challenges the

genres’ common traits are that the main protagonist, Jason, is a Zombie. The zombie is fully conscious and is a good character, therefore the story dwells on this and is about what is usually about the stereotypical brainless evil character, now being the only chance to save humanity.

One of the main cast is, Alex. She’s shown the be a strong and the most intelligent character in the film. This challenges the norm by making females come across as having the ability to be dominant. Usually Action/Horror films represent females as weaker and needing saving from the males.

RESIDENT EVIL: AFTERLIFEThe genre I was going for was influenced by Resident Evil: Afterlife, as I liked the Action/horror hybrid genre. The stereotypical characters and representations also greatly influenced my characters. “Albert Wesker” from the trailer influenced and inspired ‘Colonel Autumns’ in my trailer (The cold hearted, self righteous attitude and the dark smart leather attire).

300: RISE OF AN EMPIRE 300: Rise of an Empire influenced my trailer by it’s pace and

it’s use of dialogue to signpost the trailer to imply the story.

FURY Fury influenced my trailer by the darker themes it uses and the

location, as the action sequences take place in the countryside.