JG: Evaluation Question 1

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

Our film opening fits the conventions of a real horror/thriller film opening as it is jumpy and builds up suspense through the narrative and sound. An example of this is seen in Amityville Horror (Douglas, 2005) which we studied the opening of, it uses sound such as whispers to give us the audience the idea that Ronny is possessed and camera techniques such as close ups to show emotion and fear.

This is useful for character exposition and we have done the same through prevalence as we see Michael and Josh walking up the hill towards the church and we realise that these characters are just ordinary teenage boys through the use of costumes. This is because the characters are wearing jeans and trackies thus showing them as lower-middle class meaning we can relate to them easily. Mise-en-scène is crucial to our opening as it creates the atmosphere due to the church being rather isolated, old and dark this makes it scary as it gives the audience an uneasy feeling due to the loneliness of the boys.

One of the most important aspects of a horror/thriller film is the titles and the soundtrack and I believe that in our film opening both of these are suitable. We used both diegetic and non diegetic sound an example of non diegetic sound being our soundtrack this is crucial in our opening to help create tension and this worked effectively as we really feel like Michael has been possessed and is mental due to the noises and whispers that we hear as if they are in his head. In terms of our titles I like the fact that they are quite simple and are on top of a black background as you can focus on them easily. They also allowed us to experiment with a different type of shot, we did a tracking shot while passing behind some gravestones and then embedded the titles of the group members and their role.


The narrative of our opening piece conforms to that of the genre as it builds up tension leading to a main event in the storyline. Our horror/thriller challenges the conventions of the genre as it is often a girl/woman that dies and we also see how they die. However in our production the protagonists are both males and therefore Michael dies as he is seen as the weaker of the two, but we don’t reveal the significance of his death or what exactly happens in the opening leaving the audience curious for more.

This curiosity is shown throughout as Michael sees the bible with an object poking out of it and wants to find out what it is and this leads to his death; curiosity didn't only kill the cat.

                                         

Our opening sequence is also conventional as we use a constant low drone to help build up tension and other layers of sound such as water droplets and whispers etc. which are frequently used in horror films. For example Amityville Horror to give the expression of hearing things making us think that the character is possessed this is used because it makes it tense especially when accompanied by the characters actions such as being jumpy and looking around as if something is there. We use this when Michael walks up to the bible at the altar in order to create tension and a certain mysteriousness.
The editing of our film opening is typical of the horror/thriller genre as it is used to make it scarier for example the use of tint and colour balance make it darker, we also used a jump cut when in the Church as in the really dark lighting it gives it a restless and on edge feel. Jump cuts are common in horror films for example Amityville Horror uses them accompanied with lightning to show Ronny's fear this makes the audience tense. This tension is then built up until it is released when he goes and kills his family, our opening does the same with the creepy music complementing the action as it builds anxiousness while Michael explores the Church and then this is let out when he collapses to the floor dead. Our opening sequence then uses intercutting to cut to the other boy who is in the darkness inside the Church gazing around looking lost. This is used for character exposition and this reveals there is now an element of fear which we can see from his facial expression as the boys have been separated and he is alone.