Media Evaluation

Media EvaluationQuestion 1:In what ways does your media product, use develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?Dan Clark

1

Form of ProductOur media product was conventional of the Horror genre in several different ways:Our titles were conventional, placing the crew/cast members in a conventional order, also regarding typography, we used a font that is generally be associated with the Horror genreThe plot of the opening was conventional of a horror opening too, featuring a character who is placed in a hazardous situation by an antagonist that they are killed by, establishing the antagonists exposition for the rest of the filmOne way that our short wasnt conventional was the fact that the protagonists in the opening are not the same as the protagonists in the film as they die at the end of the opening

CharacterOur product featured 3 main characters, two teenage boys and a little girlLittle Girl: A stock-character of the supernatural sub-genre, the little girl was highly conventional due to the supernatural/ disconcerting connotations given off by a little girl in this situation. Her actions in the short support this, for example walking through the field barefoot.

Teenage Boys: The teenage boys in the clips body language was conventional throughout, showing their fear of the protagonist. Featuring relatable characters, for example teenage boys in ordinary clothing is also conventional in itself as it helps the audience relate to the characters/ creates a sense of verisimilitudeTeenagers are also very conventional protagonists throughout the horror genre, for example Friday the 13th (Cunningham, 1980)

PlotThe plot of the opening is conventional as it features a circular narrative, including an equilibrum(the two teenagers walking through the woods), a disruption (the little girl walking), a recognition of the disruption/ an attempt at restoration (the boys seeing the girl and running) and finally an outcome (the boys dying)

Mise-en-sceneCostume:Girls dress: Conventional of Horror/ Supernatural sub-genre- connotes innocence/ anchors little girl stock characterWe took inspiration for her costume from a variety of different films within the genre e.g The Ring (Verbinski, 2002) and The Grudge (Shimizu, 2004)

Boys ordinary clothing: Conventional of Horror- ordinary, casual clothing creates a sense of verisimilitude and helps the audience relate to the charactersLocation: Woods/ForestVery conventional of Horror/supernatural- Woods is generally assosciated with danger/ fear of the unknown

SoundThe sound used in the short included a mix of both diegetic and non-diegetic soundThe sound mix (particularly the volume control) made the diegetic sound particularly conventional as we enhanced the tension building sounds, for example footsteps The score used is conventional in the fact that it builds up tension throughout the shortThe sound effects used were conventional as they both anchored the action on the screen an enhanced the horror element of the short, for example the white noise effect every time the girl is visible (Warning Loud:)

Camera/ EditingCamera:The camera was conventional of the horror genre as we used a variety of shots to build up tension and establish the shorts mood, for example close ups to represent the characters reaction to the events (e.g the ECU of the widening eye when the teens first see the girl)One way that editing was very conventional of the genre was the way that the cutting rate increased as the tension in the short increased, at the beginning during the equilibrium stage of the product the cutting rate is fairly slow, anchoring the characters normal/calm feelings compared to the fast cutting rate when the teens are running awayThe colour/visual effects that we edited into the footage were also conventional as we colour graded the footage to look darker, adding a dark blue effect over the footage, as well as this we lowered the brightness on all of the footageWe also used continuity editing throughout our product to ensure that the narrative flowed throughout and to make the plotline more effective