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

Our media productOur media product, Porcelain was inspired by lots of

different horror films that already exists. Not only was the the idea inspired by other media products but so

were the conventions used. However I don’t think that we have challenged any of the media conventions as we use the typical stereotypes and conventions of the horror genre. The structure of the opening sequence and the cinematography, mise-en-scene, sound and

editing used all help convey to the typical stereotypical horror film.

Inspiration• The main films and TV show that I took inspiration from were

the Woman in Black, Durham county and Se7en. • These films all come under the horror genre and after doing

research on them I found myself wanting to take some of the ideas and parts of these films and Tv show and develop them and incorporate them into my horror piece.

Cinematography• The shots that I think really showed the horror genre were the close

ups of the doll. Having close ups of an old creepy doll really stands out to the audience as it somehow makes them have a sense of fear from a thing that should be seen as innocent as its only a child's toy.

• The inspiration for this came from the doll used in the woman in black opening sequence.

• Two similar shots can be seen below.

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The other shots that we incorporated into our piece were the close ups and long shots of the children playing with the dolls. I felt that this kind of shot shows the child's innocence and how they are completely oblivious to what's going on and are just playing with their toys. I felt this would help to engage the audience as they would feel sympathetic towards the child and it builds up the dramatic irony before the film has really even begun.

• As well as using a different range of shots and camera angles we also used camera movements.

• For example the shot shown to the left is a slow tracking shot of the dolls hand. Using a slow tracking shot helps to build up the tension making the audience nervous and uncomfortable.

• We wanted the audience to slowly be shown different parts of the doll as if they were unraveling something which again helps to build up tension and we did this through movement and focus.

• Another shot which is show to the right is a close up of the dolls foot being brought into focus.

Mise-en-scene• Location was a key aspect of our opening sequence and it was very important that we

got the right place. The majority of our sequence takes place in the woods when the dad is trying to get rid of the doll. We thought that the woods conveyed to the horror genre as it is normally where the character is alone and can be used to make the audience fear what will happen as no one knows what is amongst all of the trees and bushes.

• We took inspiration for this scene from the Blair Witch project as it was really effective in that and thought that it could be just as effective in ours.

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• The actors in our piece are quite stereotypical to the horror genre apart from Paul Wood the dad.

• This is because even though he is viewed as the hero he is also the only one that gets broken by the doll showing that he is weak and vulnerable.

• This challenges the conventions of other media products as normally the hero has no fear but in this case he does and he is only the hero because he’s also the weak victim and the only one aware of the doll being possessed.

Editing• Typical conventions of editing are the fast cuts between shots and the highlighting of

significant colours such as black and red.• For a title sequence I really wanted to make a montage of fast paced cuts between shots

after watching the Se7en title sequence as I thought it was very effective, keeping the audience engaged and curious throughout.

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• Colour was something that we took a lot of time on whilst editing because something that is bright and sunny doesn’t match to the horror genre. So to begin with we had bright sunny shots and we changed the colours to make them more dim and more creepy.

• We got inspiration to do this from the Durham County title sequence, where in certain shots only the colour red stands out and watching it I thought it was really effective and drew my attention to the object in red so I thought it would be effective to use it a similar technique in out title sequence to grasp the audiences attention.

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