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

Question 1

Our film opening followed many conventions of a horror film in some aspects such as the young, conventional main characters - the arguing couple, low-key lighting, non-diagetic soundtrack, extreme close ups, isolated location. All of these aspects add up to create an enigma and create suspense

•When researching ideas for our media product I looked into a variety of film forms and styles. •Through watching and analysing film openings ‘Catch Me if You Can’ (Spielberg, 2002) and ‘The Shining’ (Kubrick, 1980), I got more of an understanding and techniques used in particular genres.•I looked at the generic conventions of horror and thriller in the trailers ‘Texas Chainsaw Massacre’ (Luessenhop, 2013) and The Departed (Scorsese, 2006). From this we settled on working within a horror genre and further at a selection of horror films.

Shots that stood out and I liked from a range of

horror films

The plot and location of our opening is very conventional of horror openings with isolated areas, abandoned buildings and in woods. We noticed that wooded areas were used to enclose locations in horrors, creating a sense of it being cut off from the outside.

The character exposition was reasonably conventional as it is usually young people as the main characters in horror like in the films ‘Cabin in the Woods’ and the ‘Scream’ films where the plot revolves around young leading characters.

•Arguing teen couples is also a common premise for the plot opening. This is seen in films such as ‘I Know What You Did Last Summer’ • We used costume to make a clear connection between the characters and show their age with the characters wearing similar style clothing to each other.

The diagetic forest and bird sounds show the isolation during shots building up to the action, creating an enigma and tension. It also made the setting very clear and helped to maintain a sense of continuity and

The non-diagetic soundtrack is low-pitched, ambient music which is very conventional of horror and tension-building. We also used diagetic heavy-breathing in scenes using a handy-cam such as in the first shot of the building as it connotes that there is another presence which creates an uneasiness.The music soundtrack is intercut by heart-beat like ‘boom’ sounds between changes in action. There is also a non-diagetic buzz noise added in over particular shots acting as a break in sequence as the opening cuts to a separate sequent of events.

In the shots inside, we used low key lighting to create shadows which would obscure the view of the antagonist to make her appear more mysterious. We were inspired by a shot in a tunnel in’‘Let Me In’ where the shadows and lighting were shot in a film noir style.

Framed shots create a sense of the characters being watched as it shows the location of the character and makes it seem like a point of view of the antagonist. This is emphasised by the diegetic breathing sound.

Close ups and extreme close ups of the antagonist is conventional as the whole character is not revealed but certain aspects are which connotes uncertainty and mystery.

We used extreme close-ups of the antagonists hand in some shots revealing detail and the moving shots reveals more and more slowly as is pans across the board. This idea came from the opening of ‘se7en’ which also only reveals the hands of characters.

Our film has two white females and one male character, the couple are young people and the antagonist represents older social group.

Question 2

How does your media product represent particular social groups?

There is not a large variety in social groups as there are very few characters and these characters are most relatable for the intended audience.The other character challenges the norms as there are rarely female antagonists in horror films. While planning and filming we intended for the character to appear fairly young however in feedback we were told that the character appeared witchy and older than the other characters. While the gender is unconventional, there is not a typical age but in our audience research we found that young girls and old women were popular amongst the recipients of the survey.

The teenage characters are not represented in a way that could be viewed particularly positively or negatively as they are presented fairly neutrally.

Neither of those characters represents a lead protagonist however the focus seems to be on the male character as he is in the foreground of most shots and the camera follows his action.

The characters break the conventional gender roles in some aspects in that the male character does not represent the usual masculine qualities often represented in media but seems overpowered by the female character who is represented as a bossy and controlling figure in their relationship

The female characters challenge the ideologies often represented in horror films. It is often the female character who is seen as the victim and are often seen as ‘vulnerable’ and ‘passive’ but the lead female character challenges this ideology being bossy and controlling and she is not representing the victim in our opening.She could be seen as weak and slightly passive as she runs away at the end to avoid danger however she could also be viewed as sensible as she is the surviving character.

The antagonist in our opening also challenges gender roles within horror as she is represented as the powerful, murderous and violent character who has brought about the deaths of many people. She does not conform to any gender roles.

In parts of the opening the audience is positioned from the antagonists point of view with the use of high angled shots which create a sense of the antagonist looking down at the characters from a position of power.

There were also shots with objects in the foreground creating a visceral affect for the audience to seem like the antagonist is watching from a hiding place.

Handy-cam shots watching the other characters also show her as a secretive character hiding rather than being powerful enough to be seen in the open.

The male character could be viewed as the braver of the two characters and puts himself in danger at her request. However he is also represented as the victim which challenges conventions and gender ideologies.

Non-verbal language between the couple shows her as being controlling/bossy in the relationship.

We decided to represent the characters this was to create tension and an uncomfortable atmosphere from the dialogue, body language and expression.

We used the production company logo for ‘Hammer’ in our opening as it is a independent British production company. They are well known for producing a number of popular horror films such as ‘Dracula’ and ‘Frankenstein’ and more recently ‘The Woman in Black’ and ‘Let me in’.

Question 3

What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?

Our film would be most suitably distributed in independent, arthouse cinemas as it is an independent, low budget film . 

Our opening was filmed in small locations without need to close any areas with a small cast and a niche target audience so we decided it would be appropriate to distribute our film independently and not on general release.

We filmed digitally so would be most easily digitally distributed.

As it would not have a mass audience, the most effective marketing campaign would be viral marketing using social networks. This way, the advertisement would reach the young target audience. Using social media is also a much more financially viable option than TV spots or large ad campaigns.

Many websites such as YouTube give the opportunity for free advertising with an unlimited possible audience. Social networking sites allow for users to ‘share’ or ‘like’ material making it easily viewed by ‘friends’ or ‘followers’ who may have otherwise not have seen the product.

The film could be shown at smaller film festivals such as the London Independent Film Festival to showcase the film prior to release and creating some word-of-mouth buzz around the film

As the film would be screened in art house- Cinemas rather than at multi-plex screens , it would most likely be screened as small independent cinemas such as The STAG in Sevenoaks or The Kino in Hawkhurst.

As the film is so low budget, another option would be to screen the film online in the hope that it would become a viral success like the film “Loose Change”

Question 6

What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?

We used blogger.com to create a group blog to present work and ideas collaboratively using different user accounts to post individual and group posts

Through blogger, I have been able to upload and embed videos, text, pictures and slideshows and this has lead to us being able to share ideas and inspiration and develop these ideas.

We could access the blog from anywhere and there is a comment facility to communicate with other members of the group.

There were some group posts which were written when we were together to publish group work

We could upload different forms of media to the blog and could embed and share work.