To what extent did you follow conventions of real media
texts?
To what extent did you follow conventions of real media
texts?
In order for our film to look professional, we had to follow a
range of codes and conventions for the particular genre that we
were to create. Although we had aimed to create more of a thriller
than a mystery film, that was difficult to do due to the narrative
we had chosen for the film as there was not an existing film
available with the type of storyline we had created. However, there
is a similar narrative in the film It Follows (2014), which shows a
young girl being followed by a supernatural force. Before we
created the film, research was carried out in order for us to know
all that we could about short films, and the conventions to follow
for the correct genre, this helped to a great extent as we were
able to work around our narrative for a thriller film in order to
engage an audience. The way we had done this was to create a
montage hoping to build tension for the viewer through it, as that
is one convention that all thriller films have. The films we had
looked at with the intention of gaining the thriller/mystery
conventions, were The Mist (2007), The Guest (2014) and Case 39
(2009). This was to enable to us to see how these films had built
suspension with their narrative and an enigma. Also after
researching these films, we had looked at how a seemingly harmless
situation can progressively become worse, which is a convention of
Toderovs narrative theory that suggests that most films start with
a state of equilibrium, which them becomes disrupted.During our
research, we had also looked at Barthes Narrative Codes, and I
believe that we had followed the Hermeneutic code throughout the
beginning of our film, as the viewer is immediately set up with an
enigma as to who the stalker is and why she is stalking the main
character.Also following common conventions of a mystery film, we
had used the Apple software Garage Band to create a mystery
soundtrack to go as background music for certain scenes throughout
the film. This was very useful for mystery element of the film, as
our audience feedback told us that doing this was successful in
creating the sense of a mystery, and that the main character was in
a state of fright.Poster codes and conventions.
Starring characters to entice an audience if the actors were
well known.Month of film release to let the audience know when the
film is available to see.Bold and large title to introduce the
film. Central image to attract the audienceAge
certificateProducers/ directorsTag line to create an interesting
enigma to the viewer.
