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

Media Evaluation Question 1

RATINGI decided to follow common horror film convention, and give my product an R rated certificate; this is very common in the horror genre as it allows directors to work with far less restrictions than they would if they were trying to make a film suitable for younger viewers.

As I wanted my film to be aimed primarily at viewers aged 17-21 the R rating is ideal, as it allowed me to use as much gore, and potentially explicit language if I chose to include it.

My trailer follows a fairly classic convention of the horror genre, focusing on a group of bored teens who perform a ritual, and invoke an evil spirit. I decided to conform to convention through beginning the trailer in a state of equilibrium, as everything is okay at the start of the trailer.I used the first shot to foreshadow some of the narrative for the film, as it clearly indicates that the film will be about summoning demons, as is also implied in the title “Ritual.” Opening with a shot displaying the narrative is uncommon, however I think it works effectively as it draws in people who know that they are already interested in the possession genre.

One thing I neglected to do for my trailer was include a shot from outside the house in order to set the location more effectively, as although I know that the location is a suburban home, it may be unclear to those watching

This is the shot in which I first introduce my characters. The Mise en scene in this shot fits with the horror genre, as its dark and eerie, however I don’t think it fits in with the mise en scene for the rest of my trailer, which include a lot of red tones in order to create the effect of an evil presence.

As this is only a teaser trailer, I don’t include a lot of information about the characters, choosing only to include some basic dialogue to show what some of them think.This conforms to the conventions of a teaser trailer, as they ususally focus more on the action and the gore from the film rather than the characters

The close-up shot of the candles creates the mise en scene needed in order to create the atmosphere of the ritual. The candles are commonly used in rituals, and the medium shot of the candles from above in a pattern makes them seem more demonic, as they are obviously laid out with the intention of summoning something. I could have further reinforced the genre here through drawing a pentagram or something similar, as a more noticeable pattern for people to recognise, as it’s a convention of the genre.

I used this scene in order to further embed the narrative of my piece, it follows on immediately from the candle shot, keeping the slower pace of the film, which is a feature of trailers, as they often preserve the equilibrium whilst also building tension until at least 20 seconds into the trailer.

The Mise en scene in this mid shot also fits with the horror genre, with colours of red and black, if I wanted to push this further I could have got him to wear darker clothes, possibly with some demonic iconography.

The dialogue in this scene is perhaps a bit cliché, and somewhat generic, as he just talks about a sense of danger, and performing the ritual correctly, although this does still fulfil its purpose of creating more of an enigma for the audience, as they will want to find out what went wrong, and the consequence of it.

I used a series of quick, quite graphic shots in order to shock the audience. The use of fast, graphic shots is very common in teaser trailers, as it belies some of the features of a film that will attract people who are interested in the genre.

The Mise en scene of the silhouette in the doorway is iconic and reminiscent of older horror films such as Psycho, however I’m not sure if it fits the iconography within the rest of my trailer, as the black and white shot seems almost out of place.

The use of the special fx gore is very common in professional horror trailers, and gives their audiences a taste of the better special fx that are likely to be in the film.

The close-ups, and the medium close up shot of the knife being cleaned, and displayed with the blood on it is fitting with the mise en scene of the rest of the piece, however it is a fairly uncommon type of shot to be used in a horror film, perhaps comparable to similar shots in professional trailers that are more jump-scares, or sudden realizations for characters that there is something wrong, it’s often used to show items that are possessed such as dolls.

The mise en scene in this shot is somewhat out of place, as the white background of the sink feels too bright in comparison to the darkness in some of the other shots in the piece.

This scene marks the most obvious change in atmosphere in the trailer, as it clearly shows the girl becoming possessed, with both the red eyes, and the editing techniques with the slight dip to black, and the red filter being applied to all footage after this. This does follow some conventions of the possession genre, as the character being possessed is traditionally a girl, as normally they are seen as less threatening, so there is something extra creepy about a female antagonist. Films about possession are more commonly about a family with kids, so I am somewhat challenging convention by changing the demographic of the characters.

The inter-titles I used throughout my trailer convey the iconography of the genre effectively through the use of both font and backdrop. The font is jagged and somewhat demonic, connoting the genre, and the backdrop appears to be a blood stained surface, which fits the iconography of my piece effectively. One thing that I am unsure of here is the white text, as I feel like it doesn’t fit the mise en scene of the rest of the piece, however it was a compromise I felt I had to make, as otherwise the text was indiscernible from the background.

I included the traditional titles to tell the audience what other work the producers had done, and when the film was being released.

I followed other trailers in the genre by including a melodramatic strapline in order to create an atmosphere of distrust

I increased the pace near the end of my trailer in order to build suspense and excitement for the audience. The increase in pace also allows the trailer to show off some of the scarier elements of the film, whilst also not revealing too much of the action.I also used the music in order to increase the pace of the trailer here, using a percussion piece with increased tempo, as well as additional sound effects for screams and other things such as the head smacking against the wall.Both of these things follow then usual conventions of a horror teaser trailer/.

My main title screen is placed at the end of the trailer, which is conventional, most trailers do this so that the last thing you see is the name of the film, and therefore you remember it. The mise en scene of the title screen fits the genre, as it shows the red, horror themed text, clearly displaying the title of the film. However, I feel that the choice to include the credits on the same screen was unnecessary, and takes away from the overall feeling of the screen, making the feeling of genre less powerful.I think I could have instead chosen either not to include the credits at all, or to include them on a separate screen.

One advantage to the inclusion of the credits is that it would attract people who like watching a specific actor or director, however this is less likely to be a factor for smaller, independent films.

After the final title screen I chose to include the scene of one of my characters with a very graphic burnt face effect, who then opens his eyes. Including a very short scene for either a jump scare, or to increase narrative enigma for the audience is very common in horror trailers.I also used a loud, climactic noise in order to add more impact to the shot, and to add in a final moment of suspense to the trailer, as it means that it finishes strongly. This shot will also leave audiences confused, and wondering how this ties into the narrative, encouraging them to watch the whole film.