Evaluation - Conventions

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




Some of the points covered in this video
My film opening follows lots of typical horror genre conventions. The setting of the film is in an isolated, abandoned and dark setting which is typical for lots of existing horror films. Due to the location being isolated helps the viewer to feel that they really are in trouble when it goes wrong.

The characters in the opening also follow typical character conventions of the horror genre. Vladimir Propp's character theory tells us typical characters in most film. My film applies to this theory due to the character falling into similar categories. The central protagonist of the film is usually a victim or a hero of the film. This is represented by my protagonist being a victim, within the first few scenes in the opening. There is also an innocent female character that gets attacked quite early in the opening. This also follows character conventions as this happens in quite a lot of existing horror films.  This supports the idea that she is innocent as she did not want to be there in the first place, due to her actions in the narrative. The villain character is typical of a horror film due to them being an essential piece of the film, so there is obviously this character in my opening. The male character in my opening makes her go to the cabin.

The narrative structure of my opening also follows typical horror conventions, due to the female character being attacked in the opening, being quite soon in the plot of the film. Which also links to horror character conventions. Claude Levi-Strauss' narrative theory tells us that a lot of typical narratives could be reduced down into binary oppositions. In my film openings case, this would be good vs evil. The innocent characters against the stalker (villain) in the woods.
Tzvetan Todorov's narrative theory tells us that films narrative all follow a set of stages. These are the equilibrium, a disruption, recognition of the disruption, solving the disruption and a new equilibrium. Due to my production being only the first few minutes of a film. Only the equilibrium and disruption are covered. But my film still applies to the start of this theory.

Technical aspects of my film opening also apply to typical horror conventions. Things like iconography apply to these conventions. Low-key-lighting helps to create dark scenes which is typical of other horror films. Mise-en-scène was thought about very carefully, the positioning of characters, clothing, etc. One of the shots where the characters walk up a small incline, there is the dark forest on one side and the light open forest on the another. I chose to make the male character to walk on the dark forest side of the path as it connotes that he is making her go to the cabin, which puts her in danger. The female character walking on the light open side of the path, as it connotes innocence.

Camerawork was thought about very carefully when shooting. I included a point of view shot of the female character as she was about to get attacked, by the villain. I also used lots of handheld shots the simulate the fact that something is about to go wrong. These are typical of horror films, therefore applying to technical horror conventions. When the two character were having the conversation about the vandalized cabin, I used high and low angle shots, to emphasize that she holds the power in that scene, and with the combination of over the shoulder shots and the 180 degree rule helps to simulate that a conversation is going on. These types of shots are not only common in the horror genre but in all film.

When I had shot all of the footage for the film, I then added all of the footage to the project in Premiere. I tried to follow specific horror conventions by using minimal cuts between shots and then increasing the pace of cuts as the narrative of the film gets to the attack. This is very common in typical horror films. I also added a tint to the footage, altering the levels and colouring of the shots. I made it so the shots increased in more of a blue tint as the film progresses. This also applies to typical horror conventions.

Sound was a big part of the final cut of the film. I spent a large amount of time on the sound of the film. From the sound effects, dialogue to the music and soundtrack of the film opening. I had to re-record some dialogue, as some of it was unusable. Focusing on sound effects, I added some disturbing sounds, from screeches to high pitch noises. These sounds increased in volume, but also the amount of times they come up. The sound track also contains disturbing sounds to help to apply to typical horror sound conventions.

Overall I think that the film opening turned out well, as I made my film alone, and with limited time, some of the aspects of the film would need to be re-done. Things like the sound would have to be re-done as the microphone lacked quality so i had to remove the noise within audition as best as possible. I had not used this software before, as well which made this a lot harder. Apart from the sound I think that the film opening was done well.