In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge

real media products?

Film

My media product, Entrada, consistently uses forms and conventions of existing media products from my research. Conventions including typical use of camera in existing short and featured horror films, music and sound effects, editing, mise en scene and narrative structure.

From my research I identified a number of camera angles, shots and movements which I found useful for the final film. One was allowing an inanimate to have characteristics of a human. I identified this technique from the short film, Mannequin. In my first draft of the film, the mask is seen hanging on the wall as though it is talking to Charlie. I used the technique I had seen in Mannequin to make it look as thought the mask has characteristics of a human, by creating a shot where the camera is slowly tracking in towards the mask. In another shot, I had Charlie sitting on the floor in front of it to show a sense of dominance of the mask over Charlie. You can also see this in Mannequin as there is a close-up of the mannequin’s face at a low angle.

Mannequin

Entrada

Film

Another convention my media product uses is the filmmaking style called “found-footage”, the film is completely viewed from a handheld camera or any other camera in the scene. I found that this was very popular in horror films and very effective when trying to make the audience jump as it looks more realistic than traditional filmmaking. Within my research of a found-footage film, I found many conventions that I found useful when making the final film. These include always looking in the direction that the character is, quick movements of the camera and switching between cameras. Example of these are found in popular feature films such as Paranormal Activity and The Blair Witch Project and the short film A Final Message. In the final film, the whole film is filmed in this style and these conventions helped create a scare for the audience. For example, In The Blair Witch Project, the characters each had their camera attached to a torch. In my final product, there was a scene where Cole is split up from the other two. He hears noises and looks around and quickly changes direction. The camera featured a light onboard so it was easy to achieve this convention. Unfortunately one of the cameras didn’t have this so we held a separate torch in the other hand to keep this convention featured throughout the film. I used this convention so that people could easily see what the character was also seeing when In the dark.

Entrada The Blair Witch Project

Film

Switching between different cameras in the scene was another conventions in the scene that felt useful when developing the story. This gave me opportunities to see things from different angles, see what each person is seeing if it was important. This is done a lot in found-footage films such as The Blair Witch Project and the Paranormal Activity series. It was very easy filming this because it didn’t have to be filmed at the same time as it could be just edited together in post-production. A good example of this is shown in The Blair Witch Project. In the final scene, the characters are in a house and can hear someone shouting downstairs. Once the character goes downstairs we hear a loud thud as the camera is dropped. The view is then switched to another characters camera at a different location. I’ve tried to challenge this convention by switch the cameras more frequently. When Cole is split up from Timmy and Danny, the camera switches between both Cole’s camera and Timmy’s camera. We also know that they are in two different locations because Timmy and Danny are shouting for Cole, but when we switch to Cole’s camera we can’t hear anything in the distance. To help the audience notice this even more, I made sure their names were on screen at all times. This convention helped a lot to give the audience a sense of loneliness towards Cole at this time.

SWITCH

SWITCH

Film

Other than conventions of camera use, I have also used and challenged the forms and conventions of music and sound effects. Even though music is only used in the first scene and the credits, I have tried my best to challenge the conventions with that time. The sound effects are used throughout the film whether its used as diegetic sound or to be as part of the motion graphics or visual effects.

The music used in the first scene of the film consist mainly of violins and horns. This is what I had identified in the films I had researched. In the short film, Scrambled, there are times where high-pitched violins can be heard very subtle. This type of music is used as a tool to create suspense. I have used this in the first scene, which shows a brief origin of how the spirit consumed Charlie as his host. During the first few shots, I had added a high-pitched violin soundtrack subtly as well, which fitted the scene quite well as Charlie’s mother, as well as the audience, are eager to know what Charlie is doing upstairs.

Film

As I said before, the sound effects are used as either diegetic sounds or sounds that are part of the motion graphics or visual effects, which are also diegetic sounds. There are many sound effects used throughout the film to immerse the audience in fear. These sounds include the whispering sound that comes from the mask, running sounds, stick breaks and many more. I will talk about the diegetic sounds used in the film. When looking at the short film, A Final Message, the two characters hear many noises which causes them to investigate where they came from, which would have the same effect on the audience watching it. In my final media product, I attempted to challenge this convention of finding out where these sounds came from. In one scene, all three of them are in a tent, sleeping, apart from Timmy, and the sound of something running wakes them up. They then exit the tent to investigate. I used this convention because I wanted them to investigate and find something that makes them want to leave the woods. In other words, I used it to develop the story faster so that the audience wasn’t bored with pointless shots of Timmy playing with his camera.

Film

I will now talk about the non-diegetic sound effects that help with the motion graphics such as title sequences and also the diegetic sounds used with visual effects. The sound effects that were non-diegetic weren’t used very often but were effective when they did. Music ad sound effects are used frequently in the title sequences of the films I’ve researched. For example, the title sequence of Scrambled has a short music track playing over it. In my final product, I challenged that by adding very subtle but noticeable wind sound over the title sequence. It gives a very spooky effect that makes the audience eager to know what comes next.

The sound effects used with visual effects make the shots more realistic. An example of where I have used a sound effect along with visual effects is towards the end of the film when Timmy has stabbed the spirit in the neck. When the spirit drops to the ground, a bright light emits from the mask. As the light flashes to its brightest, I added the sound of a ‘woosh’ to match it. This allowed me to create the illusion that this sound came from the mask itself.

How effective is the combination of my main product and my ancillary

tasks?

How effective is the combination of my main product and my ancillary tasks?

The combination of my main product and my ancillary tasks are quite strong. There are many things that are re-used between the different tasks. These things include fonts, color schemes, images and information used. There is clearly a theme that also runs throughout the three media products.

I will start with the link between the poster and the film. In the final film, it is obvious that there is a very dark theme running throughout it, considering the majority of the film is shot at night. Even in the first scene in first draft of the film, it is obvious that the color correction seems very cold. This can also be seen on the poster. The color scheme of the poster is blue and black, which are considered to be very dark and cold colors, especially when used together. This gives a very serious and tense mood to anyone who sees the poster or views the film. You can also tell this from the poster as you see the character’s facial expressions as they all have a serious look on their face. Another way you can tell from the poster is by looking at the woods at the bottom of it. The woods follow the theme with a blue tint in it. This makes it look as if it isn’t a very nice place to be in. You can also tell this from the dark figure seen between the trees. Lastly, I have also used the same font as the poster for the title sequence of the film. This is to keep consistency throughout the whole production as most feature films do.

How effective is the combination of my main product and my ancillary tasks?

The posters were very effective as time was leading up to Premiere Night. By that time people had been looking at the poster for weeks and they wanted to come and see it. This helped a lot because the more people who came to see it, the more it helped towards my review.

Other than the film, there are also links between the poster and the magazine review. As you can tell straight away, the magazine review features the same blue color scheme as the poster. This is keep the consistency as it keeps the same dark feeling that the film may have given the reviewer and they may not want it to loose that. There are no other colors used on the magazine review other than the image of the three of them sitting on the floor. That being said, the image still falls into this very dark theme as the image itself has been taken at night.

What have you learned from your audience

feedback?

What have you learned from your audience feedback?

Before making this film, I knew what kind of demographic I was targeting through the audience research. This research helped inform what this demographic was “asking for”, which was a supernatural-horror film that didn’t have a predictable storyline, that was realistic, fearful scenes and a good villain.

From the audience feedback, overall, the most common thing said related to how well the film was made. The feedback I got from the Premiere Night a lot of positive comments with very few critical comments. People seemed to like the fact that we got the most out of the cameras by switching between them when needed. They also seemed to like the sound effects and music used throughout the film as they helped build the suspense and sounded realistic. Lastly, they like the visual effects that I created and added in. I think this was what really impressed the audience as it is rare that many people are able to create realistic special effects at this level.

What have you learned from your audience feedback?

Other than the feedback from the film, the feedback for poster was also consistent. Even though we didn’t note down any feedback specifically, I know what people thought of it through comments said to me. Overall, the comments that were said to me were, similar to the film, quite positive with very few critical comments. First of all, people seemed to like how the poster looked overall, saying that it looked very realistic as if it were an actual feature film. They also like how the shadow figure between the trees teases the how the villain looks which gives them another reason to go watch the film. Lastly, the critical comments. The main critical comment was that the cast names, at the top, were a bit small to read. This was easily fixable and was done for my final version. Another critical comment was something concerning the character on the right. His hair was much more visible on than the other two characters. Again, this was easily fixable and I did so for my final version.