Evaluation Question One

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

When making my product I had to consider the conventions of both the form of the product (teaser trailer, film magazine cover and film poster) and the genre of the product, of which I chose teen drama.

I used the conventions of teaser trailers in many ways:

• I used fast paced editing to intrigue the audience and not give too much of the narrative away as teaser trailers rarely do this.
  

• A way of doing this is using tittle slates to hint at the plot, something the St. Trinian's teaser trailer does, using 3 title slates, interspersed with clips, to suggest the narrative to the audience.
  
  
  
  

• I used this convention in my teaser trailer to convey a sense of the plot to the audience yet also keep a sense of mystery.
  

• Also, by using title slates I gave a non-specific release date for my film of 'This Winter'. This is something often done in teaser trailers as they are released many months in advance of the film.

• Another convention of teaser trailers I have used is differing styles of music to show a change in the mood or tempo of the trailer. I used a classical piece of music at the start to show contrast to the rest of the darker, more serious trailer.
  

In my film I also used many conventions of Teen Drama films. A common theme in teen dramas is a sense of 'coming of age', often portrayed by:

• the consumption of alcohol and illegal drugs for the first time, something that is explored in the films Mean Girls and Thirteen. It is often caused by peer pressure, something that is hinted at in my film.

Many may argue that it is a fairly recent theme but we can see from the 80's film The Breakfast Club, one of the first successful teen drama films, that it is a constant theme.

• the formation and breakdown of friendships, something which is central to my plot, as my main character Tasha comes into it and becomes close to Lucy, which in turn effects her relationship with Jess. Many teen dramas focus on different stereotypes and how they become friends. In my film this is the 'geek' and the 'rebel', something also done in The Breakfast Club.

During my product research I found that film magazines often use 3 colours
Teen dramas are not often featured in film magazines as this is not the target audience for the magazine. As I was aware of this when constructing my product I asked my audience what types of magazines they most often read with music magazines coming out most popular. Film magazines rarely focus on documentaries but I decided to break this convention to include a documentary on a music festival which links to the interests of my audience.
In my product research of film posters I often found that early promotional posters had non-specific release dates so I incorporated this into my own product, helping to increase intrigue in my poster.