For this task, I have made a voice over that will play over my psychological thriller trailer, including images of my poster and magazine. I have gone into detail about how I have linked my three main products through synergy and how effective my final products were at conveying the intended genre.
Script:
I have used stereotypical conventions of the psychological thriller genre and typical conventions of real media products in my trailer. I have used lots of synergistic elements that will allow my audiences to recognise my product even through different media platforms such as posters and magazines. Audiences will be able to recognise my main text through fonts, stylistic choices and characters. Saturating the market with synergetic references and links to our main text will help our title and any information be remembered, increasing the number of cinema-goers and revenue.
I have tried to use classic conventions, suited to different media platforms, for three media products. This was crucial when producing traditional and realistic outcomes as well as texts that are suitable for the designated genre. In each of the products, I have included conventions that will attract our target audience of 17-25, this range of audiences would be most likely to go to the cinema and enjoy complex narratives.
For my film poster, I decided to focus on the key scene from our trailer. I used a mid shot of a girl's legs, hanging off a bed and the girl holding a bottle of vodka. In the background, I have used a close-up of a hand, that I cut out, coming out from a dark area under the bed.
I took inspiration from 'The Snowman' poster as they have used a direct scene from the film. However, real psychological thriller posters commonly focus on a main character's face's as they will be well known and will create star power, meaning they are recognisable and are likely to bring more audiences to the cinema. I used Photoshop to create this image and I used the gradient tool to create a dark and mysterious atmosphere from the left side of the poster and from under the bed. I used the magic wand tool to cut out the area around the original image of the hand and I placed the cut out in front of the background layer and behind the girl's legs. This creates the illusion that she is about to be grabbed which links to the narrative of the film. Our film focuses on a girl who loses her best friend and starts to go insane. Therefore, I have included a vodka bottle in the poster to refer back to her struggle in the narrative. Teenagers are stereotypically known for partying and being out with friends; to show this representation of an alone and distressed teenager may cause some concern and intrigue from the audience. I have added the actor's names at the top of my poster as this is a convention that is found in real media texts as it increases star power.
I included a reference to the antagonist in my trailer and poster although, it is uncommon for psychological thrillers to reveal their antagonist. However, I think that the way we have hinted towards them in our trailer and the vague reference I have made to them in my poster is ambiguous enough to create a bigger intrigue from audiences than not showing the antagonist at all. This will attract a thrill-seeking audience as well as teenagers who maybe be able to relate to the main characters.
Another way I have created synergistic links between my texts is by using the 'Brio' font. I have used this font for title and information in my trailer, poster and magazine cover. The title 'Left behind' has consistently been used in the same font ensuring audiences recognise it across all platforms. This convention makes my products look more professional and improves the effectiveness of my promotion.
For my magazine, I included a close up of one of the main characters in our trailer. Magazines classically focus on character's face's, looking directly at an audience to pull them in. I struggled at first with the main image as I didn't feel that a face would be recognisable to an audience because our trailer is quite vague and audiences wouldn't be able to match the trailer to the magazine. In the end, I settled on using a mysterious close up with a black to transparent gradient around the edges as well as the title underneath to link to our poster and trailer. I have included a barcode and production logo in the bottle right corner, as well as an issue number, price and website. These are real magazine conventions which further increase the effectiveness of my product.
In the trailer, we used special effects to create the illusion of a corrupted news report on the mother's telly. I did this by using static overlays and sound effects when editing. I cut up the static and used them over the original clip, leaving gaps so that you can still hear what is being said. News reports are very trusted sources and some people rely on them to be told about the world. I decided to create a corrupted report as this can create an uneasy atmosphere as when they go wrong it can create panic. We also used filters over some of the clips to make them darker which links to the gradient effects I have used in my poster and magazine. Low key lighting and dark mysterious atmospheres are commonly found in psychological thrillers like 'The girl on The Train' as it plays with audiences primal fears and gets inside their heads.
In conclusion, I think that I have successfully used synergy across a combination of different media outlets allowing an audience to recognise and remember my products. I have tried to appeal to a teenage and young adult target audience by using stereotypical and classic psychological thriller conventions throughout my main product and ancillary texts. I know my target audience will be interested in our products as we have received positive feedback from our demographic when posting our trailer on Facebook.
