Evaluation Question One: In What Ways Does Your Media Product Use, Develop Or Challenge Forms and Conventions Of Real Media Products?
Our media product is the first two minutes of a horror film and in the first shot, we have used a pan shot of a river in order to establish the scene and also build up tension. I understand from my research that establishing the scene and building up tension should be done in an opening sequence in order to hook the audience and make them want to carry on watching the film. 
The location where we filmed this pan shot is quite gloomy, seen as we were filming on a cloudy day, which symbolises that this film has a morbid theme. In order to establish a significant event that has taken place before the opening credits of our film, we have used a close up on a necklace charm in the water to imply to the audience that this prop is of great importance to the plot and will be linear to the film as it will be central to the main characters situation.
However, the close up is non-linear as it does not flash to the before event, which is done to keep the audience in suspense and keep them guessing where the charm comes from. I found in my research that this was done similarly in the opening sequence of the film Seven, which uses a close up of a book to show this items significance to the plot. All the way through these two shots, we have inserted non-diegetic, suspenseful music to make the audience wonder what is about to happen.
In terms of the typography, we have used a white font colour and kept it to a small size in order to contrast with the dark background at the beginning and also to create a sense of mystery, something which is also done similar in the opening sequence of Seven, as the title font colour is white to contrast with the dark background and appears as though it has been scratched into the shot in order to create an uneasy feeling. A tilt shot shows two different props, a happy birthday banner and a gift box, which is the most important prop of our film and the tilt shot shows the change in location from the river to the house.
Another way that we showed contrast was through the use of over-exposed lighting when filming the ending of the main character’s birthday party when the last two party-goers are leaving, which we decided to do in order to create a change of mood, as the end of party scene looked bright and happy compared to the first shot. However, we have inserted the sound of pouring rain and thunder to convey that something is about to happen and also used a high-angle/over the shoulder shot in order to focus on the gift box and emphasise its importance.
We used a continuity cut to show the boy walking up to his room with the gift box to keep the action going, which I found in my research was done quite similar in The Grudge, which I analysed the first ten to fifteen minutes of, as the beginning cuts from the titles to a shot of a girl travelling on her bike to keep the action going. Our tilt shot of the boy walking up the stairs to his room shows him walking into darkness, which we believe signifies danger is looming. The location we used for his bedroom is full of band posters, which implies that he is a normal teenager and once he is in his room, the only sound that can be heard is the ambience of the rain and thunder, building up the tension as a non-diegetic screech is heard, which we have used to indicate that he is not alone. A pan shot follows him look out of his window to investigate the screech, something we believe an audience of a horror film would expect to see. 
A medium long shot then shows that the ghost of a girl has appeared in the corner of his room and a close up of her shows her terrifying features as the thunder increases to strike fear in the audience, similar to The Grudge when the ghost of the Japanese woman is seen for the first time. A close up shows her drop the necklace charm onto his bed, explaining its significance to the plot so the audience can make a connection between the first shot and the event taking place now and the girl’s dialogue of “five days” can be heard, which will create dread as it sounds like a warning and implies to the audience that the boy is now in danger, something that is often done in an opening sequence. 
No comments:
Post a Comment