Evaluation Question 1

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

Narrative Our horror movie had a supernatural story which is a convention of many other horror films such as “paranormal activity” however the narrative structure of our title sequence is very similar to todorvs narrative theory and many of the films I analysed did not follow the narrative theory such as “Dawn of the dead” however for our film was also set in an abandoned building which is another convention often used because it makes the audience feel uneasy and tense. Other films, which use similar abandoned locations are “SAW” and “The shining,” I think that using this location was effective because it strongly indicated that our opening title sequence was a horror genre of movie.	Mise en scene Low-key lighting was used throughout the whole opening title sequence; another horror film which used low key lighting was the woman in black, in both cases the low key lighting was used to build tension and mystery for the audience.  Ways in which our title sequence has challenged codes and conventions of horror movies were at the beginning of our title sequence when the characters were outside on a bright, clear day with high key lighting. This challenges conventions of many horror movies because high key lighting signifies happiness, which is the opposite of what horror films try to convey, however it was used in our title sequence because due to time constraints, we were unable to wait for darker and dull weather. In our opening title sequence, blood was used as a prop which is a convention of action, thriller and horror films. An example of a horror film which uses blood to scare the audience is  “Texas chainsaw massacre”
Camera work In our opening title sequence we used many shots which are often used in horror movies, for example we used close ups to show facial expressions as well as point of view shots when we took a handheld shot from behind a wooden beam to suggest and signify that something was present whilst hiding.	Editing The editing of our sequence also complied to codes and conventions of horror films, for example when the situation became tense we used fast and sudden editing to create tension for the audience when the blood fell onto the Ouija board.  The pace of our editing was used to build tension which many other horror films do to scare their audience as well.
Sound The non-diegetic sound, which we used, conforms to codes and conventions of horror films. This is because when the characters were inside the building, spooky and unnerving music was played in order to make the audience feel uncomfortable in this situation and make them feel that something else is present in the room.	Other Other ways in which our title sequence follows codes and conventions of horror movies is through representation. Our movie represents young people very stereotypically and similarly to other horror films such as Friday the 13th. Both represent young people as being mischievous and often getting into trouble.