Evaluation 1

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

The title of the film comes up on the screen right at the end of the scene. We decided to make it flash on at the same time that the dead character's eyes open, this is because it is an unexpected shot and therefore makes the audience jump. By doing this it should make the shot memorable, which therefore means that the audience should also remember the name of the film with the shot. The font of the title is 'Papyrus', which we chose because it is quite a creepy looking font, which matches the stereotype of the genre horror. We chose the colour red because it is associated with blood and anger, which are some of the main themes that run through films of this genre.

We thought about the setting/location carefully and decided that we wanted to use the church steps because they are very enclosed which therefore makes the audience feel claustrophobic and uncomfortable, and also it contradicts the usual connotations of a church, for example it is thought of as a 'safe' place for people, but after watching this scene it is clearly not true.

We also decided to use another setting, the forest, because it is very different from the church shot, it is far more open, which indicates that the little girl isn't just stuck in one place, she is free to roam around and obviously kill people, which isn't a very comforting thought, so hopefully this would creep people out.

We decided that we would use a simple white dress for the little girl, because white is seen as symbol of 'purity' and 'innocence', so then when we tore it and covered it in blood it would contradict every typical idea you usually receive when looking at a girl, the innocence and purity.

We decided to use typical clothes that someone would wear around the house, because the character just a normal person to anyone that doesn't know what he's done.

We decided to use the oblique camera angle when filming our product because we found that not only would it add an eerie effect but it would also make the editing process much easier. When editing we started by brightening the scenes in the church so that they could be scene better, but then decided to dull them down a bit because it would make the shots look creepier and more frightening. By doing this we created a gloomy setting, which is stereotypically associated with horror films.

I think this opening scene sets up the story well because it creates suspense and confusion, which causes the audience to want to watch further into the film to find out what happens. The opening scene is a clip of the main events that happen throughout the film, and then the rest of the film illustrates what happened leading up to those events.

We feel that the opening scene represents the genre well because it includes blood and gore, which is one of the main aspects of horror, as well as the colour scheme and also the settings.

After we evaluated our audience research questionnaire results we discovered that the most popular element of horror was Blood and Gore. From these results we decided that to create a successful opening scene we needed to include this element. We attempted to incorporated these ideas into our scene, and so created a bloody wound on the victim. We also put blood on the little girls dress to add to this element.

Within our opening scene the colour scheme mainly consists of dark, plain colours such as black and grey. This continues throughout the whole of the scene, until the end when the red title appears. This makes the red stand out as it is a far more vibrant colour than black or grey. Also the colours black and red are typically associated with death and therefore works well with our plot.

The setting is very important when it comes to presenting our genre. We decided to use the church stairs because they are very closed off, dark and claustrophobic, which makes people feel uncomfortable. We used the forest because they are quite isolated places, as not many people venture into wooded areas because it is difficult to see clearly due to the trees and leaves obscuring the view, which creates tension and a feeling of isolation. Both of these settings create feelings that are stereotypically associated with our genre.

During the opening scene only two characters are introduced, but they are the main characters. When you see the characters is it difficult to understand what is actually going on, therefore creating an element of confusion, this means that when the audience watches this scene they wont fully understand the characters that they are introduced to, because they are not properly introduced. This all would hopefully make them want to watch the rest of the film.

During our editing process we decided that our scene was too jumpy, so in order to try and smooth it out we used a special effect called 'cross dissolve'. After doing this we noticed that our scene was much smooth in transition, making it more pleasing to the eye because it made it easier to watch. The scene was still jumpy enough to fit in with the typical elements of genre, but not so much so that it was uncomfortable to watch.