In what ways does your media product, use, developer and

challenge, forms and conventions of real media products

QUESTION 1

HORROR

FORMS AND CONVENTIONS

A common convention used in horror films is the feeling or view of isolation.

For example:

A person walking alone in a graveyard is just asking for trouble in a horror film

Similar to walking through a grave yard, another convention used is walking

through a dark forest. In all of these things, I think the main thing they look for is

getting the audience to understand the sense of abandonment and isolation that is

on screen. This sense of being alone will add to the fear that film makers want the

audience to have. This is filmed in a variety of ways.

For example: Harry Potter and the philosopher stone

In this film, there is a scene filmed in the dark forest -

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9N-_KmZmV20&feature=player_detailpage

To create added tension, you will notice that there are no tight close ups of the

characters. They are mostly long shots and wide angles. Filming in this way, having

the characters shown very small in comparison to their environment, really shows

the audience how alone they are and adds an unease to what's happening on

screen.

Here is a good example from the Harry Potter clip of Harry and Malfoy

walking through the forest. This angle on them walking is a very wide, profile

shot, and only allows us to see their silhouettes as they walk through the dark

forest. Having the screen filled with the wood instead of the two boys, makes

them look very vulnerable. The silhouette look adds to this as you are limiting

the audience on the detail they can see.

Our film goes against this way of filming and almost does the opposite. When

Megan becomes her most vulnerable, and most alone, the framing is very tight

around her face. This doesn’t allow anything else to shown, only her. In a way this

works as well as it takes the audience into her mind and gives you a different type

of isolation. In Harry Potter the isolation is based environmentally, were as in our

film, it is internal and based on Megan's emotions.

Another convention used in almost every horror film is scary

music.

Here are some examples:

Nightmare on elm street:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i-_Xx9Dn0aI

Jaws:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A9QTSyLwd4w

The exorcist:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D1PH_Y8Xn4g

Our film music:

..\Day of Chaos.mp3

The music we use in our film continues all the way through. In a way it is a silent

film so the emotions and story telling of the film are really shown through the

music. This means that in calm moments the music needs to be soft and slow pace,

and then upbeat and fast paced in moments of panic. For the film we used a piece

called ‘Day of chaos’. This contained both of these types of music and used the

same instruments so we cut it down into different segments and blended them

together so each piece of screenplay had music to go with it. If we were to go

against this convention typically found in horror films, it would have become a

spoof. Explaining this, using a piece of music that juxtaposed the action taking

place on screen ( A good example of this is in Shaun of the dead when they kill a

zombie with ‘Queen’ playing in the background) it adds a comical edge to the

scene, which is something we did not want in our film.

When looking at the camera work in horror films, the typical one used is a POV

shot. In our beginning clip we do use the POV shot, but as well as this, to

challenge this sort of technique we used hand held camera work, Although this

isn’t a POV shot, the shakiness of it continues to give the impression of her being

watched.

We did continue to use a lot of typical camera shots as well, such as high and low

angles (adding intensity to the situation). We developed this technique by playing it

along side with fast pace editing. This heightened the intensity of the action taking

place on screen, as it puts the audience on the edge of their seats wanting to know

what's going to happen next.

A theme that is also carried out in most horror films is

GOOD VS EVIL

Typically in horror films you get the good guy, and the bad guy. The hero and the

villain. You don’t only see this in horror films either, you get it in virtually every

genre. In horror films, you normally get an innocent character whose life is put

under threat, or changed by a conflict with ‘the bad guy’ (another stereotype in

horror films is that the bad guy is out to kill them). In our film we challenge this be

making the good guy and the bad guy into the same character, only they are

different people. Megan and the double both look identical and through the film

are both fighting for the same thing, Megan's life.

SCI FI

FORMS AND CONVENTIONS

A common convention used in Sci fi films are special FX. You will find them in

almost every Sci Fi film.

We used Special FX in our film when Megan is getting locked into the closet. The

effect is a laser which you stereotypically find in Sci fi films. Usng this gave an edge

to the character and gave our audience an idea as to the sort of person she is.

Seeing her have this ability makes them fear her and worry for Megan , which is the

reaction we want.

To conclude we have used, developed and challenged different conventions found

in these two genres to create our hybrid film.