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

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

Characters The antagonist is a male who wears a mask which is very conventional of a horror filmThe stock characters in the film were the female protagonists, these are presented as vulnerable with this following the lone girl theory, this makes the opening sequence conventional of a horror film. This also evident in one of the films I analysed which was Cabin in the Woods which helped in planning our opening sequence

Mise-en-sceneIn the mise-en-scene technical area we used many examples to display the technical area, which made the opening sequence conventional to horror. Costume:The mask used was inspired by one of the films I used in planning which was Scream. In the title sequence the scream mask was the last shot and left a lasting effect which is partly why we wanted to replicate that sort of mask. So the mask used was conventional to horror as such an iconic movie used a similar mask also. The mask was white covering the whole of the antagonists face. The reason we used a mask was because it created an enigma code as it hid the antagonists identity, also by using a mask the antagonist expression and emotion is hidden projecting fear to the victims.

We used weapons in our opening sequence which is very conventional of a horror film. Especially in our film as even though it was a psycho sub-genre is had element of a slasher film also. So we conveyed this with the specific types of weapon we used, as they were all bladed and if used would present to the audience a lot of gore which again is conventional of a horror film. Ideas for the weapons came from viewing the cabin in the woods scene where numerous weapons such as a saw can be seen, which then we tried to replicate by using similar weapons that would have the same effect if used.Props

For our opening sequence we presented the antagonist with having a personal lair which he would plan out his next victims, with this idea instilling fear into the viewing audience. This is very conventional of a psycho horror film, there was not a specific film that inspired are opening sequence in this way but as it is so conventional of a psycho thriller we thought it would create fear as the antagonist plans out his next vulnerable victims.Next we also used another location that is very conventional of a horror film which was the woods, this linked into one of the films I researched Cabin in the Woods and did influence our decision of where to film.

Location

The costume worn by the antagonist was a suit. We thought this was very conventional of a horror film but not one in the woods. But as the location and the costume contrasted one another so much we thought it reinforced our idea that the antagonist was a psycho and had a mental illness, to be wandering the woods in a black suit.

Costume

Character blocking of the final shot was conventional of horror again as it highlighted the girls vulnerability and further emphasised the antagonist dominance. The girl is seen as been lower down and smaller with the antagonists hand on her face with her not knowing what's going on. This connoted that the girl was going to be captured and killed, with this shot emphasising the antagonist as been in control. This final shot was inspired by the Cabin in the Woods shot where the girl is shown a been crouched while been held by the antagonists.Character Blocking

Lighting was another aspect of mise-en-scene we considered, with darkness used; again with this been conventional of horror. In his lair all was dark except for the direct lighting from the lamp, we tried to show portray the antagonist of living in the darkness as well as showing his victims in the lights. This helped give the photos of the girls prevalence in the shot and to emphasise that they were his next victims. This darkness in the antagonists lair was an idea we got from the seven opening which we thought portrayed a psychotic lair very well, so we tried to use similar ideas from that in our own opening.Lighting

SoundWith the opening to the film we believe that sound was our strongest technical area. Diegetic:We used diegetic sounds with whispers that could only be heard in the antagonists head this was to connote mental illness which is conventional of a psychological/slasher horror film.

Next diegetic sound was a technique used to emphasise the lone girls vulnerability with screaming this helped portray the antagonists dominance as screaming connotes fear. This was also used in the final shot with it then cutting to the final title, the screams were supposed to connote that she was been captured and killed.

Diegetic sound was next used with the scraping of the weapon on the wall, this sound can be seen as jarring and disorientating. It also helped turn the attention to the antagonists weapon which was a machete which is very conventional of horror movie.

Fast jumping music is an example of non-diegetic sound this was to build tension and also to connote that the antagonist was following the girls, this is very conventional of horror as tension is built up until the final climax which is seen when the girl screams.We also used the ambient sound of a wood to set the scene, with this then contrasting the fast jumping music when that starts, these contrasting sounds help to build the tension when they are juxtaposed.

Camera

A close-up shot of the antagonist mask is a shot we used. This was used to connote fear as with the mask you cannot see any emotions making the antagonist look more sinister and scary which is conventional of a horror film

Close-ups of the antagonists weapons can also be seen. This was to emphasise that he uses the weapons. The weapons that can be seen are all conventional of slasher horror movies as if any of them were used there would be a lot gore and blood.

Close-ups of the victims can also be seen at the end this was to highlight their vulnerability and to show their close up facial expressions. This is also put the antagonist in a superior position as the victims were so scared.

Tracking to follow the characters was supposed to portray the girls as been followed without their knowing further highlighting their vulnerability as the antagonist tracks them.

EditingFast paced cuts were used during the action to make the scene look more hectic with this helping to build tension. This is very conventional of an action scene as tension is built with the fast cuts. Which is conventional of horror as the antagonist is trailing his soon to be victims

The plot:The plot of our film was simple and followed conventional horror films of the antagonist trailing and eventually capturing his victims.The antagonist is first portrayed as lonely with the whispers connoting a mental illness, his previous and next victims can be seen with their pictures on his wallThe girls are then seen as walking through the woods, the antagonist is shown as trailing them this can be seen through the use of intercutting and the tracker.The victims are then pounced upon with one girl being captured with the title cutting the action.