In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge

forms and conventions of real media products?

By Gabrielle Green

Themes within Horror filmsScary Movie 3 (2003) and Scream (2003)

• Horror films tend to involve themes such as violence and stalking. This is denoted in films such as scream (2003) where the victim Sidney is stalked and intimidated by the Ghostface Killer.

• This also presents gender roles within films as female characters tend to be the ones victimised and oppressed by male characters like the Ghostface killer who plays the role of the antagonist within the film.

• Another film which presents this element is scary movie 3. In the opening sequence of the film, female characters Katy and Beccareceive a phone call from an unknown male. Shortly after this phone call, supernatural things happen within the home. This is denoted through the fridge door opening suddenly. When Beccagoes to look for Katy, she finds her sat dead in the chair.

• This connotes that women in horror films tend to be weak.

How does the theme of violence and stalking relate to my media product?

• My film has developed the convention of gender roles between men and women through binary oppositions of good and evil. This was done through performance where I had a male character stalking an innocent female character as he saves her picture on his phone. When he sees her, he then challenges her. She becomes intimidated by his body language which was very controlling. This was further emphasised when he became violent and brutally beats her to death before putting her body into a bag.

Enigma within horror – How did I use this element?

• Enigma is a common feature of horror films. • Films which present this includes insidious where son Dalton falls

into a coma after suffering a drop from the ladder to his attic. Doctors were unable to find a cause of the fall which generates enigma as it leaves the audience unsure of what is going on.

• I included this convention in my media product through having antagonist stalking her.

• I wanted to give the audience a sense of mystery as to how he began stalking her.

• I also directed him to drag the girl’s dead body into a property where he then walks off. The verbal feedback given by my audience suggested that they were left shocked by the violent events which took place in the film.

Incorporating Enigma into My Product

• I included this convention in my media product through having antagonist stalking the female character.

• I wanted to give the audience a sense of mystery as to how he began stalking her.

• I also directed him to drag the girl’s dead body into a property where he then walks off. The verbal feedback given by my audience suggested that they were left shocked by the violent events which took place in the film.

Camerawork

• Camerawork elements within my film involves the use of close up shots, point of view shots and even mid long shots.

• This is presented in films such as Warm Bodies 2013 where there is an extreme close up shot of the main character as he walks.

• I used this convention in my product through having close up shots of the antagonist as he stares at the girls picture on his phone before having a matching shot to a close up of his face as he talks to himself.

Sound

• In terms of sound, horror films tend to have very slow pitched soundtracks with low key tones of instruments such as pianos and violins.

• These instruments generate a sense of tension and gradually speed up when the action becomes more intense.

• I used this convention within my media product in order to give the audience a connotation of underlying darkness which can give the idea that something negative is about to happen within the narrative.

Editing

• Editing techniques within horror films consist of long takes.

• To an extent I used this technique in the scene where the antagonist approaches and challenges his victim.

• This was done to give a dramatic effect to the film whilst presenting the build up to the brutal murder which takes place.

Lighting

• In terms of lighting, horror films tend to include low key lighting to connote darkness and possible isolation.

• Despite my intentions to conform to this code, I experienced technical issues with lighting as the camera wasn’t well equipped to shoot well in low light conditions.

• This led me to rely on street lighting and lower levels of daylight in order to shoot clear footage.

Any challenges faced in the production of my product?

• Due to laws regarding weapons being deemed as offensive, I decided to challenge the convention of the use of weaponry in horror films when a character is being killed.

• Instead I edited the action of the antagonist murdering his victim to take place off screen. However, the sound of the victims screaming and being beaten whilst the antagonist taunts her can still be heard in order to maintain the action of the audience. This technique also generates enigma as they are left unsure of what is going to happen.

• By using this technique, I also conformed to the conventions of horror films where brutal actions are edited in a way that audience members don’t see exactly what happens to characters. This was done in my product to reduce the disturbing effect it produces to the characters.

• Also I did this as my film was targeted at a fairly young audience aged between 15 and 25. As the violence isn’t as extreme as violence in films such as psycho where a female is stabbed to death in her bathroom by a male stalker, I was able to conform to the codes of a horror film with an age 15 certificate.

Summary

• Overall, the key themes relating to the horror film genre includes low key lighting, tense, slow pitched sounds, long takes and violent performance.

• All of these elements combined creates enigma, a purpose of horror films as it attracts the audiences attention towards the film.

• I have used these codes and conventions within my film through using low key lighting, extreme close ups and continuity editing.

• Due to having a lack of sufficient light to film properly in low key conditions, I had to challenge this convention through using mid key street lighting in order to gain the best possible image quality of my product.

• Lastly, the conventions were developed through using these techniques as I was able to familiarise myself with using cameras and software in the construction of my product.