Q1

1. EVALUATION – QUESTION ONE
1. In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and
conventions of real media products?
My Product Found conventions
(based on research)
My Production – use, develop
or challenge?
Comparison to Existing
Products
Titling – colour,
font and style
I found that the opening
sequences of
psychological horrors
start with the distribution
company and the
production company.
This is done to let the
audience know who is
behind the film and for
them to build up
expectations of the film
from the beginning. For
example, in the opening
of Saw and The
Babadook, the
distribution companies
were the first things the
audience was presented
with.
Saw 1:
The Babadook:
In our production, we used
this common convention by
introducing our audience to
our two distribution
companies in the first 30
seconds. I think this was an
effective move because if we
want our filmto do well in the
film market, we would need
to follow some of the
common conventions of an
opening sequence, because
that is what the audience will
expect, it will fit in/match
their expectations of a film.
In the Babadook, the film’s
title was in block capitals
in white on a black
background. We thought
this was something we
would want to replicate:
Our film:
This was an effective thing
to do because the use of
black capitals in white
against a black
background makes the
title stand out. Also, the
use of a pitch-black
background stops the
audience from being
distracted by anything else
and focus on the title of
the film. This allows the
title to make more of a big
impact.

2. Camera Work
including
Movement- pan,
track, crab, crane
Framing a shot
ECU, CU, MS, LS,
ELS
Camera Angle
High, Low
In the films there is lack
of camera movement,
which slows down the
pace of the film. This
makes the audience
become settled and take
in the mood of the film.
There are lots of
establishing shots in the
beginning to set the
scene and establish the
location and mood. This
is a common convention
of horror films eg. In saw
1, the location of the two
characters is shown in its
entirety:
Also, there is a constant
use of extreme close ups.
This is used to reflect to
the audience the
characters true emotions:
There doesn’t tend to be
a variation in camera
angle, as everything
tends to stay on a static
level.
We developed this
convention as an overuse of
camera movement could give
the wrong impression to the
audience giving off the wrong
signifiers. However, we
decided to limit the camera
movement we used, with
pans only being used to
establish location and
character:
In our production, we
challenged the convention by
using a lot of mid shots. This
is because we wanted the
audience to also see the body
language of the characters.
However, we did use the
convention of using an
establishing shot to set the
scene of the film:
We decided to use a range of
high and long angle shots to
establish a variety of different
things:
● The identity of the
victim
The effectiveness of mid
shots is that it allows the
audience to see the
relationship between
characters and their status
within the film.
For example, The
Babadook used mid shots
a number of times in their
opening sequence:
This illustrates to the
audience the close
relationship between the
characters.
Our film:
This over-the-shoulder
mid shot reflects the fact
that the detective has
more importance and
status as the whole time
he is taking, the other
characters face cannot be
seen. This suggests to the
audience that the other
character doesn’t hold a
significant role in the film.
We also used a high angle
shot of the dead body to
emphasise to the
audience the unfamiliar
nature of the ‘homicide’.
This was also done in Saw
1:

3. ● To stress the strength
of the drug involved
● To emphasise his
authority and
importance
● To emphasise the
unusual nature of the
‘homicide’
However, our dead body
wasn’t as gruesome, we
still thought the use of a
high angle shot would be
effective:
Mise-en-Scene-
Lighting,
settings, actor’s
gestures and
movements and
props etc
The lighting in the
opening sequences lack
light, they are all dimly lit
or lacking colour. The
beginning is always set in
a relatively quite setting,
allowing the audience to
take in the mise-en-
scene. Usually it features
characters that have a big
part to play in the rest of
the film eg. In Se7en, the
detective is one of the
first actors seen. In
Badadook, the mother
and her son are the one’s
that open the filmand in
Saw, the two men at the
beginning are the main
characters in the film. For
example, in Se7en, the
detective enters the
beginning wearing a big
coat which symbolises his
job and signifies to the
audience he had a high
status.
In our production, we
challenge this convention by
making our first scene in
daylight. We did this because
we wanted too emphasise to
the audience how unusual the
death was, by showing it in
daylight it shows her
complete body and the odd
way it is placed. This will
make the audience question
whether the girl’s death was a
suicide or not because she
was not found is somewhere
typical of a suicide (a
bedroom, bathroom or
domestic environment). Also,
with the crime scene being in
pure daylight, it allows
everything to be seen by the
audience.
Lighting in the beginning
of saw 1 is dull and
gloomy:
Where our first scene was
in daylight:

4. Editing – jump
cuts, match cuts,
reverse shots,
cutting rhythm
In the opening
sequences, the
convention is to use
several jump cuts and to
create a cutting rhythm
to build the pace and
increase the level of
adrenaline for the
audience.
An example of this is Saw
1 when jump cuts were
used to show the
gruesome nature of the
dead body. This creates
an unsettled mood as
neither the characters or
the audience knew how
the body got there or
who it was. There is not
much use of reverse
shots because no lengthy
conversations happen in
the opening of a horror
film typically.
In our production, we used a
range of match cuts to ensure
our production had a high
level of continuity. We also
used cutting rhythm at the
beginning to set the pace of
the film, also to build the
feeling of adrenaline and to
build tension with in the
audience.
There are several reverse
shots in the opening of
Saw 1, to fully document
each characters reaction
to what is being said:
However, in our film, we
used an over the shoulder
and midshots in
conversations:

5. Sound
Diegetic and non
diegetic, i.e.
music, voice
overs, dialogue
etc
Typically, in the opening
sequence of a horror film,
there is use of spooky,
unsettling non-diegetic to
add to the mood of the
film.
For example, in the
beginning of Saw 1, there
is non-diegetic sound
used to create tension
within the audience.
Usually, any dialogue is
minimal but important to
the story that is going to
unfold in the rest of the
film as it gives away little
clues.
For example, in the
opening of Babadook, the
mother is looking around
the house for the
‘monster’ her son thinks
is there. This is a
significant conversation
for the film because as
the film progresses, there
is a monster actually
lurking in their home,
who’s presence was
subtly made obvious
from that first
conversation.
We used the convention of
using unsettling music. In the
beginning, we created some
non-diegetic sound with finial
cut to build the tension within
the audience. Also at the end
of the opening sequence, we
created more diegetic sound
to emphasise the importance
of the title of the film:
However, we faced some
problems with our diegetic
sound, with wind being our
main issue. To overcome this,
we had to bring the volume of
the film up and down when
the characters we speaking
and when they weren’t, we
inserted ambient sound to
cover it up:
In this way, we minimised our
wind issue.
In Saw 1, there was non
diegetic sound being
played in the background
when the title o the film
came on, this gave the
title of the film more of a
chilling effect.
Similarly, in our opening,
we used spooking, gloomy
music to introduce the
title of our film.