Evaluation Question 1In what ways does your media product use, develop, or challenge forms

and conventions of real media products?

I tried to make sure my film opening included a lot of common codes and conventions of horror films, so that genre is clearly established. One thing I thought about was sound. I researched and analysed a lot of existing horror openings, trailers and film clips in order to acknowledge myself what kind of music was conventional for a horror film. I noticed that mostly classical music was used, including a lot of string instruments. In a lot of cases the music was quiet and became louder to create suspense when something was about to happen. Also, high pitched bursts of music were commonly used when something 'scary' happened. I really wanted my film opening to create this same effect. When searching for music, I made sure there were slow paced, quiet points but also points where suspense is built and stringed instrument outbursts for the dramatic parts of my film.

When I found an appropriate song I altered it in order to fit the scenes of my film very well. I made sure the music was quiet at the start, but built up during the running scene in order to create suspense. I also added in sound effects such as loud whispers during this scene so that it built up even more. In the music I had chosen there was a dramatic action hit in the middle, so I made sure this part played when the victim sees the murderer standing next to her holding a noose. This would create a more frightening experience for the audience and emphasise the scary features.

One other thing I had found in some existing horror films was that on some occasions there is a slight pause after the music has built up, to catch the audience out before a jump scare like in 'The Ring'. I thought this was really effective so I wanted to use it in my opening. When my character notices the killer has disappeared and the noises have stops, she stops running and the music turns to silence to create a sense of false sense of security for the audience, however there Is a sudden outburst of music when the killer suddenly appears behind the girl, which would create a reaction in the audience.

Another way I had followed conventions of the horror genre is through the narrative. After analysing some clips from horror films I had noticed that a chase scene was very common, for example in films like 'A Nightmare On Elm Street' or 'Scream'. These involved an innocent victim (usually female) being chased by a 'scary' looking, or threatening person or creature, usually with a weapon. I wanted to create a good chase scene in my opening as I thought it would be a good way of introducing the character of the killer and also acknowledging the audience of what they are capable of.

I looked at other existing horror chase scenes in order to see what sort of techniques are used to make it so effective. I found that during a suspenseful chase, the pace of the footage was cut very quickly in order to work together with the loud, fast music to create suspense and emphasize action. I took this into consideration and made sure to film the chase from many different angles, for example in the point of view of the killer, and also extreme close up of certain actions for example feet running or a hand grabbing stair railings. When I put all of the footage together and edited it so that it was quite fast paced, and was really happy with the way it looked and thought that it worked very effectively. It also allowed me to fit many different camera angles into the 2 minutes which shows skill.

I also thought about the horror conventions for mis-en-scene, such as lighting props, and costume. Not surprisingly, I found that in a lot of existing horror film openings, dull and dark lighting was used in order to create a sinister, evil, eerie feel. I knew this was something I wanted in my opening, as bright lighting and sun is associated with positivity and happiness, which is not the mood I was going for at all. To stick to this convention I made sure to film on dull days when the sun was not out, but also when it came to editing I had enhanced the colours to create a cool blue filter, which made the footage look more dull and colourless. This really benefitted the outcome of the video and was a very effective finishing touch that my opening needed.

In terms of conventional props and costume, I noticed that in quite a few cases the villains face was covered, such as In 'Scream' 'Saw' and 'The Purge'. The prop of a mask for the villain adds to the scary feel of the films as it creates a sense of fear of the unknown for the audience. This is something I wanted to create in my film opening so my villain wears a mask. I found that it was common for the villain to carry a weapon to show power, create fear, and also acknowledge the audience what could happen to the victim, so I decided to make my villain carry a noose, which is clearly shown in close ups in my opening.

I wanted to stick to the common convention of an innocent female victim so I decided my actor would wear very discreet, natural make up so that she looked young and not intimidating. The prop of a backpack emphasized the fact that she may be coming home from school, which illustrates her young age.

When it came to thinking of a title for my film, I wanted mine to follow the conventions of existing horror film names. After researching, I found that many horror films had very short titles, a lot of them only one word long in order to create enigmas, such as ‘Scream’, ‘Saw’ and ‘Psyco. I took this into consideration when making my list of title options.

Another way I followed conventions was through the opening titles of my film. I looked at title sequence of existing horror films like

‘Incidious’ and noticed these horror film titles were quite discrete. I thought that this was effective as it emphasised the calmness before the violence and action. The way the titles fade in and out reinforced this. Because of this I made my titles quite discreet, and not too bold so that they did not distract attention away from the film footage. I

also chose to fade them in and out like in the horror film title scenes I had looked at.

A slightly different way I followed conventions was by following narrative theories. My film opening relates to Propps’ character roles as the masked killer takes on the role of the villain. If I were to continue making my film, I would also introduce the hero, which would be the leader of the group of citizens hiding from the villain, and the helpers, other people from the town who help the hero.

My Film opening also relates to Todorov’s theory. The first equilibrium is the victim walking along on her phone, going about her usual activites, and the disruption of the equilibrium happens when she sees the newspaper article, and is eventually killed. If I was to carry on making this film, the recognition of distruption would happen when the people of the town here about the new murder. They would then attempt to repair the damage by trying to find out who the killer is, while at the same time trying to stay alive.

One of my aims with the making of my film opening was to follow conventions, so it does not challenge them in many ways. Despite this, I wanted to make my video slightly different to the typical horror film as this makes it unique and interesting for the audience. One thing that I think is different about my film opening is that there is a death in the first 2 minutes. I had chosen to do this because I only had 2 minutes to fully establish genre, and I thought that a chase would introduce the character of the villain and acknowledge the audience of what he is capable of. It would also create a cliffhanger in order to make the audience want to watch on. A lot of existing horror film openings I had looked at do not start with such a suspenseful, action filled scene, but one horror film which does include a death in the opening is 'The Woman In Black'. This still differs quite a lot from the death scene in my opening as the scene is a lot more slow paced and relaxed, and the villain is not shown so enigmas are created.