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

forms and conventions of real media products?

FilmIn our short horror film called Forge Lane. The film regularly uses conventions from real media products. From my initial research into short horror films . I had gained a better a perceptive of the ways that camera angles, mise en scene, and sound achieve the genre of horror.

For example, when looking at the short horror film “Dollface”. We can see that as the beginning is playing. There is a close up shot of a man who's hands are wrapped around metal bars. This represents that he is someone who is trapped and held against there will. I have used the same principle of the hands wrapped around the metal bars. In Biveks death as he finds Dhillans body and is running away. He then wraps his hands around the metal bars to show he is trapped. However saying this I have slightly modified it because we only have a short period of time in which we could work. There was no time to build up suspense therefore we had to use a medium shot instead of a close up shot. The medium shot was used to show that it was Bivek that was trapped at the gate.

Dollface

Forge Lane

FilmAnother convention that I used from the short horror film “Dollface”. Was the editing technique called action match. This is used because the character begins to move in one shot and we see the continuation of the same movement in the next shot. This is used to show the direction of the characters movement and also this may be used as a technique to make the audience think that the area the character is running in is much larger.

I then used this technique into my own short horror film. I believe that this was beneficial to us as it was hard to use an ordinary camera to show the continuation of movement without using the action match technique. In addition to this because we only had a short time in which we could work it acted as if Dhillan had been running for longer. This meant that we was able to add an element of realism within our film without wasting valuable time.

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Another convention that I used from the short horror film “Dollface”. Was the way they had presented their opening title sequence. Firstly they had shown shots of the film followed by the actors name appearing on the screen separately , then as one appeared the other left the screen.

I then used this technique into my own short horror film. I believe that the effect of adding this title sequence is that it makes, the horror film seem more realistic this is further seen with the addition of the made up production companies I have added in the title sequence.

FilmWoman In Black

Forge Lane

As well as using conventions that I have found in short horror films. I have also used ones that I have found when researching normal length horror films. For example in the film “The Woman In Black”. The director adds in a slow motion editing technique this is used just before the girls jump out of the window, this is effective as the audience are able to see what is about to happen the slow motion therefore prolongs the time in which it takes for the children to jump out of the window, therefore creating terror and tension these two elements build up more and more making it more frightening for us.

This is then something I then included into my own short horror film. This was used when Biveks neck is snapped. I believe that the slow motion technique is effective here as it. Further emphasises the violent nature of our killer.

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Even though the majority of conventions I have used are from camera use, I have also used and challenged the forms and conventions of sound . Sound effects are used throughout the film whether its used as diegetic sound or non diegietic. For example the sound used in the title sequence of the film consists of a piano playing. This is what I had identified in the short horror films I had researched. In the short film, “Dollface”. This type of music is used as a tool to create suspense. The continuation of the piano playing is also seen in our short horror film. As the “Forge Lane” road sign appears the audience can then link the name of the film to the road sign. With the addition of the piano music that is evident at both of these times. The audience begin to start thinking that the road “Forge Lane” plays a vital role in the movie.

FilmWhen looking at diegetic sounds used in the film. When looking at the short film, “Dollface”, As the woman hears noises as she enters the shop this forces her to investigate where they came from, which would have the same effect on the audience watching it. In my short horror film I used this and challenged this convention of finding out where these sounds came from. In one scene, as Jagveer is walking through the woods he hears sounds, this forces him to turn around and question “who's there”. I used this convention because It allows the audience to feel Jagveer’s false sense of security. In addition to this it served as the perfect platform for Viren to then scare Jagveer. The effect of this was that it built up tension as the audience saw somebody approach Jagveer however they couldn't make out who it was may before the actual jump scare, they may have thought it was the killer.

The sound effects that were non-diegetic were effective when used. For example, in the short Horror “Lights Out”. When the woman turns the lamp on and the scary face is revealed a jump scare is used. In my short horror movie , I used and challenged this convention. When Jagveer is scared by Viren a jump scare is used. In addition to this as the scene transition occurs I added very faint sound of wind blowing. The effect of this is that It creates a eerie atmosphere effect that makes the audience eager to know what comes next. The sound effects used when coupled with visual effects make the scene more pragmatic. An example of where I have used this is when Bivek’s flashbacks occur when using the “whhh” sound. It makes the flashbacks seem more realistic.

PosterThe poster of the film uses many different conventions used in existing posters for horror films. For example from the poster sinister. Situated at the top of the poster is a title which states what other movies the director has directed. This is something that I have also used on my poster. In addition to this from the Saw movie poster. I had noticed that due to the horror movies sub genre which is slasher horror. The name of the film has a font which represents that somebody has used a knife to carve out the lettering. This is something that I have also used on my film poster. As I believe it further emphasises the sub genre of the movie.

I would say that my poster relates the most to the design of The Fugitive horror poster . For the reason that both of the setting correspond with each other . They both represent an eerie setting. In addition to this I have used the addition of the light as I believe that the audience can make their own interpretation on why the light is there.

ReviewMy review also uses conventions from my film review research. As it was a double page spread I included sections that also appeared in my research such as interest curve, run time etc, also the conventions of the main images used. The conventions I have used that I believe are important are images of scenes within the movie, the reason why its important as they act as a technique to tease the audience. I gets them thinking about what happens after. This was also seen in the “Screen Magazine Review”. In addition to this the black and white image that was used in the “Twilight Film Review” . This was something that I also used in my own double page spread.

I decided to also challenge the conventions of the review in existing ones. When researching film reviews, I had noticed that the majority of them use colourful text and images. However I had challenged this convention by using white and black. The reason for this was that I believe that establishes the horror genre more.