Question 1: In what way does your media product, use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

How my product uses conventions of real media products

In my opening sequence the main villain is a man. This is because when I was researching typical representations of characters in psychological horror films, I found that the villain is commonly a male. This is evident is films 'Insidous' and 'The Shining'. From researching these films I learnt that men are often the killers because they are typically, strong, physical and aggressive.

In my opening title sequence there are a lot of slow cuts used. The use of slow cuts was very prominent in my research of Psychological Horror Films. They are used a lot because the slow cuts transcend nicely with the slow, ambient music which is commonly used. This evident with psychological films shutter island and Insidious where there are frequent slow cuts.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BZjOOwaiTGQ

Clear here to watch use of Slow cuts in Shutter island

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UBCQLGZTBxI

Clear here to watch use of Slow cuts in Insidious

How my media product uses different and conventional media devices

Camerawork- We have used close ups of the dead corpses to show their intense vulnerability. Also, there are numerous occasions where the knife is positioned centrally in the flame. The knife represents violence and death and therefore reflects the aggressive nature of the evil character. We found when researching films in this genre that a violent object is common in these types of films.

Editing- We have at the beginning the main character walking across the setting grazing the wall with a sharp knife. We used video transitions to morph the multiple shots of the knife grazing the wall together. This was to create a blurry effect which would resemble the character’s delirious nature.

https://youtu.be/QO7br0QjOgE

Click here to see this editing technique. Please watch from 2 seconds till 8 seconds.

Mise-en-scene Mise-en-scene- The main villain is wearing black and white. The black connotes death and disappearance( a common focal point of the storyline of a psychological horror film). The black and white also blend in with the aesthetic look of our opening sequence. This is because all of our opening sequence is black and white. Therefore, the colors blend together nicely.

Music

The music we have used is taken from a dark ambient playlist by Atrium Careceri. The music I have used is slow and ambient. This is common in psychological horror films because it creates tension and transcends nicely with the common use of slow cuts and low key lighting.

https://youtu.be/kxuvy-_F8iw?t=760

Conclusion

Overall, I think my media product mostly uses and develops existing ideas.

I have adopted the ideas of using low key lighting. This is because it is commonly associated with a dark storyline. Therefore, I use it because my film will have a dark storyline. I explored dark themes in my opening title sequence. As you can see, the main character is killing people in toilets and subsequently sticking them in elevators.

In my opening title sequence I set up several enigma's. e.g. where is the elevator taking the dead body's too? This is because it setts up enigma's, like most psychological horror films. For example, in the shining opening sequence : why is the location so remote? Where are they driving too?

https://youtu.be/TgCejsyS0t8

Click on this link to watch the enigma's set up in the shining

No where in my opening title sequence does it completely challenge normal conventions of a psychological horror films. This is because I noticed that all the films in this genre have so many conventions in common. Therefore, I felt I could only develop ideas of the genre to allow the film to stay within the constraints of the genre.