Evaluation- Question One

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

 

Before I started making my film, I planned out what I intended to do, for example I planned my storyline of my film by using a storyboard, when I was completing this I also listed the types of shots I thought would be appropriate for a horror film. This planning was helpful because it helped me plan ideas of what follows the conventions of what is expected of a successful horror film. It also showed me if my ideas challenged the usual conventions as I had some individual ideas which aren't as commonly used in horror films.
 

 

I have chosen to look at the film The Conjuring (2013) because I think that this film follows some of the conventions which are known to make films successful like my film does. I'm going to show similarities and differences between The Conjuring (2013) and my film opening relating the conventions of a horror film.

Secluded setting

The conjuring is set in quite a remote setting, they do this because the house has a past and they want you to feel nervous about this. Also it makes the film seem eerie because the exorcists and paranormal investigators have to come out to them which makes the home seem like its away from safety and civilisation. This is a common convention to create the scary atmosphere needed for a successful horror film, my film is also set in a remote area because I wanted to have the same atmosphere as it makes the audience feel on edge and it builds up suspense. I used this convention because it is very common and always seems to work to build up tension. Similar to The Conjuring my film is supposed to have a history behind it that needs to be revealed, this is emphasised by using a secluded location. In my opinion I think this is a very successful convention to use as every horror film I have watched where they have used a secluded location, it has made me feel nervous and on edge, I think this is how the audience should feel when watching a good quality horror film. I also think I have developed this convention because the secluded location makes you think that there is no other characters around and that they are on their own, at the start of my film opening I tried to portray the main character as on her own but as the opening unravels the audience soon learn that she is not the only person around and at the very end you see who has been watching the main character and 'haunting' her, this is how I think I develop this convention which a twist of my own.

These images show the similarities between The Conjuring and my film having secluded locations to film in:



This is the setting in The Conjuring (2013). As you can see in the image there is the focal points of the old fashioned house and a noose but you can tell its very secluded as all you can see is trees and mist for the whole background.

 This is the setting in my horror film opening. My setting also has the focal point of the barn and the background only shows trees and nature surrounding the barn.











 Characters

In my horror film opening I used two characters; my main character is a teenage girl called Eliza. I chose to use a teenage girl because it would appeal to my target audience of teenagers. I chose to use a modern teenager who is attractive because this follows the conventions of a successful horror film. My main character is very stereotypical because she plays the victim and is very curious and goes looking for the trouble and supernatural. Similarly The Conjuring (2013) the family has children who are around a teenage age who are haunted by something supernatural and look for the trouble. Having a character or characters who play victims and are bothered by the supernatural but still are curious and look for the danger, is a common convention which makes the audience feel very tense because while the character is being troubled by a spirit the audience are watching and know something is going to happen and have to wait for it which causes them to feel scared and on edge. With this character I think I follow the conventions a successful horror film uses. In my film opening my other character is the supernatural character or ghost. The ghost isn't in my film opening as much as my main character who is in all of it. The ghost is briefly spotted my the audience at the very beginning and then seen again at the end when the audience and main character see the ghost. Although the ghost is only seen briefly there is a lot of paranormal activity which is presumably caused by this ghost. The conjuring also have ghosts which are briefly seen but the activity caused by the ghosts is shown consistently. A common convention is not showing the audience the ghost or spirit because it lets the audiences mind run away with them causing them to have all sorts of thoughts and this causes terror and sacredness, both my film and the conjuring use this technique. Although I do show the ghost briefly multiple times to scare the audience which challenges this convention.

These images show the similarities between The Conjuring and my films ghost:

This is the ghost in The Conjuring (2013), the ghost isn't showed very much through the film so this builds up suspense amongst the audience. The ghost looks very scary so when it is briefly shown it leaves a lasting fear with the audience.









This is the ghost in my film opening, she isn't shown much in my opening either but is shown multiple times. My ghost character looks more natural because I wanted it to look like a young girl from the past who had died as I want it to be realistic and not too far fetched which suits the conventions.







 Storylines

The storyline of my opening is very basic as I did not want the first 2 minutes to be too over powering and to fast moving. At first I have my main character in her room reading she then gets up and goes over to the dressing table, when she moves away from the dressing table the audience see a ghost and as she comes back the ghost is gone. Next she walks outside into the yard and hears banging coming from the barn, once she is in the barn she looks around and cannot see anyone, strange things start happening; the lights flickering, banging noises, a music box starts playing and there is a rocking horse rocking on its own. My storyline follows a lot of common conventions of a horror film. For example, at the very start showing the audience the ghost very briefly is successful because the audience will not be expecting it so soon into film but its not too much that it loses the sense of horror. The banging increases the eeriness of the film as it is all contributing to building up suspense. I did not challenge the conventions I don't think as from my own experience in watching horror films, the films which follow the common conventions when referring to storylines because they always seem to be the most successful horror films and that is what I aspire my film to be like.


This photo from the film Scream 1 (1996) shows a ghost/villain behind the character who hasn't seen it but the audience have seen it in advance. This is similar to how my film opens at the start.








This photo from the film The Conjuring (2013) shows a ghost behind a character and the character does not know about this ghost. However differently another character who is conversing with the man we can see, can also see the ghost behind as well as the audience.

In conclusion for my media product I followed the common conventions of a horror film and used conventions that other films used that were popular. I used some stereotypical horror aspects because they're easy to create and look effective such as having a ghost appear behind a main character. However I did use some uncommon horror conventions, for example I kept my ghost quite natural looking and not too scary or cliché, I challenged this convention because I didn't want my film to appear far fetched.

Audience Feedback

Audience Feedback

 

 

From the feedback I have been given I have thought about how much dialogue I have. As the opening of my film does not have very many characters for there to be dialogue between, I have included some dialogue when she enters the barn to call out whether there is someone inside the barn. Although this is not much dialogue, I have included some. I found this quite difficult as there was minimal characters. As the feedback tells me, I have used good sounding such  as music which is helpful as we don't have as much dialogue so this music can break the silence and build up suspense for my audience. 

 



Shooting Schedule

Shooting Schedule

 

 

This shooting schedule shows how long I took to film and what was done and when. This is good for organisation to know deadlines and what needs to be complete. From this I learnt how my shots need to be complete and when I filmed them. It also meant if I needed to re-film some shots I can monitor when I first did them and when I redid them.

 

 



Test Footage

Test Footage

 

When I was filming the shots my film opening, I filmed some shots which were to test what it would look like. This was very helpful so I could see which ideas worked and which didn't, this saved a lot of time and it meant I could improve shots before I tried to edit my film. This was a good task as it gave me experience and practise.
Here is some footage I filmed:
 

 



             
00165 from Lucy Trigger on Vimeo.        
                                                                                        00197 from Lucy Trigger on Vimeo.


              
00196 from Lucy Trigger on Vimeo.                           
                                                                                        00205 from Lucy Trigger on Vimeo.

Permission for Filming

Permission for Filming

 

I filmed my film at my friend Emily's house. As it wasn't filmed on somewhere I owned, I had to ask for permission to film on her land. To do this I messaged her on a social networking site, I chose facebook because it was quick and very convenient. The image below is a screenshot of her agreeing to let me film at her house and barn.

 



This image below shows us arranging a time good for both of us to do some filming at her house, this shows that she was very happy for me to film at her property.

 

 

Costumes

Costumes

 

Main character:

 

 

My main character is wearing a casual 'iron man' cropped t-shirt with plain blue denim skinny jeans. Later into the film she will wear a plain blue coat which is also casual. I chose quite a fashionable outfit which also looks comfortable and casual, I think this is the sort of outfit a usual teenage girl would wear. Wearing a fashionable outfit will hopefully influence my target audience.

I would like my main character to look fashionable but my main focus is so she looks casual, the sort of look that a usual teenage girl would want to look like. I chose her to have her hair up in a pony tail because this looks attractive but is simple and casual. She has left her side fringe down so it isn't all pinned back and this gives a casual look.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I chose my main character to have only eye make up because this isn't over the top. My main look for her is casual, so minimalistic makeup shows this. She doesn't have much face make up because I want it to look realistic and like a normal teenager, the dark eyes gives her an attractive main character look and again will hopefully attract my target audience.

Ghost child character:

The character of the ghost child I have chosen to wear a navy blue blouse-like top, which has a white lace collar and white lace cuff around the sleep, the top is quite heavy but puffy as well. I chose a burgundy velvet skirt which is down to her ankles. This outfit I chose looks very old fashioned which is the look I wanted because she is from the past.

The ghost child characters outfit looks very old fashioned because of the velvet material of the skirt, the collar and cuffs and the long skirt, also the blouse top has a tie at the back which is in a bow which looks very smart and old fashioned.

This photo shows the lace pattern which is on the collar and cuffs, this shows the old fashioned style and how neat it looks.

The ghost child character has her hair tied back with her fringe down, Her hair is tightly pulled back to look smart and old fashioned and it is also in two plaits, I chose plaits because she is young and I think this is a hairstyle which shows her childlike appearance.

I also chose her hair to be tightly tied back and hair sprayed to look particularly neat as I think old fashioned hairstyles were very prim and neat. Using hair spray kept it in place and very neat.

I chose her makeup to be done very pale, I chose a very pale powder to be used as this would make her look ghostlike and gives an eerie look when she is straight faced, it also made her skin look flawless and ghostly. The dark eye makeup exaggerates the dead, ghostly look as she looks serious and quite evil.

I used powder face makeup and powder eye makeup because I didn't want the makeup to be to over the top and I wanted it to look as realistic as a ghost could look as I wanted her to look similar to what this child may have looked like before her 'death'.

From this task I have learnt that the costumes look good and are what I wanted for my film, it has shown me what it will look like when it comes together and that I think I have chosen appropriate ideas for costume.

Props

Props

 

In the opening of my horror film, I only use two props main props which are the rocking horse and the music horse box (Both of which I photographed below). As these are my main props they influence my film a lot and make an impact. I also use other little props but they aren't in the film very long for example: a book, a hairbrush, some makeup, etc. From this task I will learn which props are the most important and key props and which aren't so important. I will also learn what influence they have on the quality of my film.




 

 

This rocking horse is an important prop I use because it is the main focus in multiple shots and it creates a very eerie atmosphere, the atmosphere I was trying to create was achieved by using props like this and this has
meant I could get the quality of terror I wanted. I chose to place this prop in the old barn because they compliment each other as they both have an eerie feel and work well together.











 This music box is a very important prop I choose to use because it has its own shot in my opening 2 minutes, this prop is playing when I chose to use a tracking shot to turn all focus to it, its music is the only sound in this shot. The music it plays is a very scary nursery rhyme sounding tune which adds to the horror atmosphere. Also the music box looks quite old and creepy which was the effect I wanted.













From this task I have learnt how important props are and what part they play in a film. I have learnt that they can impact the film dramatically and can change the way a shot looks. They play a big part in creating the right atmosphere to be good quality. I also learnt that even the less important props have their own role and can change the way a shot looks and make it look increasingly better.