A2 MEDIA STUDIES

1. BEN TRUCKELL A2 MEDIA STUDIES EVALUATION – THE DERANGED

2. 1: In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products • The forms and conventions of real media products influenced the production of my own Media products. The ancillary tasks, a film poster and a double page spread film article, were quite dependent on the Main task, our short film. Furthermore, our short film relied heavily on our chosen genre and audience, due to the forms and conventions we needed to apply to our film. • Genre: The genre of our short film is horror, specifically the hybrid genres Teen Horror and Slasher. Therefore we decided to adopt the forms and conventions from films of the Genre. It also engages with a Thriller subgenre as our film explores a sense of tension throughout, which is a predominant convention from the Thriller genre. • Audience: We intended to target a teen audience, starting around 15 years old, due to the ages of the characters and the conventional teen audience of the hybrid Horror genres Teen Horror and Slasher. We thought it should be targeted at a starting age of 15 due to the age certificate we imagined our film would have. • In the following slides I will explore the forms and conventions of the Horror genre which were implemented into our film, explaining our decisions and how effective they were in targeting our audienceand complying to real media products of the genre. I will also discuss how we have challenged or developed some forms and conventions; decisions that were made to set our film different, in ways, from existing films.

3. 1: In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products • The forms and conventions for the narrative of films have certain patters and trends that have been identified by media theorists. Therefore we researched these theorists and their conclusions to apply aspects to the forms and conventions of the narrative in our film. • Vladimir Propp, who developed a ‘character theory’ that indicated that there were 7 broad character types, after analysing 100 fairy tales. These seven types consisted of the villain, the donor, the helper, the princess, the father, the dispatcher and the hero/victim. • In some ways, this theory is of some relevance to our short film, however as it is a short film, we were limited to the amount of characters and therefore reducing the character theory to only two of the different character types. We included the ‘Villain’ portrayed by Florence and the Hero(es)/Victim(s) portrayed predominantly by Claire and also by Ben and George. • As this theory was devised from analysing fairy tales, we decided to not focus on this theorist as much as the theorists Claude Levi-Strauss and TzvetanTodorov.

4. 1: In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products • TzvetanTodorov’s narrative theory was a great source for insight into the forms and conventions of the narrative for our own Horror film. His theory concludes that there are five stages to a narrative.The stages consist of Equilibrium, Disruption, Recognition, Repairand Restoration. • The relevance is that our film consists of the first four stages. However not necessarily in the same order. The film begins with the disruption stage as there is initial tension and an indication that something has happened to disrupt an equilibrium previous to the narrative in the film. This disruption is indicated by the fast pace and hand-held camera movements showing the Florence is in danger. A change of landscape to portrait orientation for one shot of Florence represents the disruption within her character that will further affect the narrative. Further disruption stages involve Florence’s turn of character when she murders her friends. • There is no significant equilibrium stage as the audience is communicated a sense of disruption and danger throughout the film. However the characters remain naïve to the situation and therefore to them there is an equilibrium, for example when Ben and Claire are simply watching television. • The recognition stage is signified by a change in lighting where Claire is left in darkness due to the conventional ‘power cut’ that exist in many existing horror films. The dimly lit scenes and frantic camera movements from this point in the film communicate the realisation that the character Claire adopts, that a disruption stage has occurred. Another Recognition stage is where the character, Claire, fully realises the disruption stage in the narrative as she comprehends that Florence was the killer. This is signified by the introduction of non-diegetic ‘spooky’ music at this point. • The repair stage is attempted, as Claire tries to resolve the situation by becoming compassionate to Florence’s feelings and struggles to calm her down. However this fails as the film ends with Claire’s death. • We felt that the restoration stage was not required due to the forms and conventions of many horror films’ narratives, as it is typical to conclude the film without a return to equilibrium. This sense of despair leaves the audience with a heightened sense of fear due to the unsettled story and lack of a happy ending, resulting in a successful horror film.

5. 1: In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products • Claude Levi-Strauss’s binary oppositions theory suggests that there are opposite sets of values that reveal the structure of media texts. An example would be GOOD/BAD, as we understand the concept that GOOD is the opposite of BAD. • We felt this theory was essential for films of the Horrorgenre. The good/bad opposition exists in almost all horror films; usually between the characters which adapt the binary opposition helpless/powerful. Therefore we chose to create this opposition as the base structure to our film. The bad is seen, at the beginning of the film, to exist between the characters Claire, George and Ben as they play the prank on the character Florence, therefore the good is evident to be Florence, due to the sympathetic view that the audience adopts. However unbeknown to Claire, George and Ben, the prank affects her in ways unimaginable and so the binary oppositions of the characters switch. Florence becomes the powerful character, and therefore adopts the ‘bad’ characteristic due to her actions. Consequently, Claire, George and Ben adapt the ‘good’ in the good/bad binary opposition due to the characters becoming the ‘helpless’ in the helpless/powerful binary opposition. • The binary opposition of good/bad and hero/villain for the character Claire is seen to be an unlikelytransformation to the audience, due to her oblivious and ignorant personality. This is seen in the dialogue when she disregards Florence’s feelings by stating that “she will be fine in a minute” and so to “leave her”. However, as Florence takes control at the end and Claire is seen to be the helpless character who attempts to repair the situation, it is seen that Claire becomes the ‘Hero’ character in the binary opposition hero/villain.

6. In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products – Analysis of key shots and forms and conventions This key shot is from the opening scene to our short film. In terms of forms and conventions of films from the horror genre, this key shot challenges real media product forms and conventions in a certain way, as it steps outside of the norm for most narratives. This scene acts as an ambiguous and ominous signal to the audience about the film’s genre and crudely identifies the initial antagonists in the film, whilst communicating a dreamlike appearance to suggest the scene is surreal. It is quite unconventional to begin a film with a surreal scene due to the narrative media theory posed by Todorov as he suggests a film would begin with an equilibrium stage, such as the representation of a happy family at the start of The Last Exorcism which then leads to the disruption stage. However, In other ways, this shot uses various aesthetic forms and conventions and typical film techniques that directors use in Horror films. For example, the reduction of saturation, altering the colour scheme to grayscale is a common convention in many horror films, due to the connotation of colourless scenes to be menacing and scary. Another conventional post-production technique is the application of blurred edges, communicating the surreal, dreamlike sense. These visual editing techniques are used often in films for similar scenes of surrealism as the audience understands the intended representation. Another convention we have used in this shot is the inclusion of the common Horror-related props – masks. These masks often feature in our film as they represent Florence’s thoughts and communicate to the audience an understanding of what is going on in her mind. Furthermore, we have used these masked characters to accomplish a slightly infamous convention of a few Horror films, where the antagonists move in sync with each other in a creepy manner for a sense of fear. We used this abandoned shed and the broken windows as a way to show protruding masked figures looming out of darkness, which is an idea that has been carried through many horror films in the past, we had decided to develop it.

7. In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products – Analysis of key shots and forms and conventions A common convention in Horror films is to use settings with negative and scary connotations, such as haunted houses, basements, warehouses and woodland. Therefore we wanted to conform to this convention about setting and so we thought a wooded area would be a great setting to film. After watching various films which included a woodland scene, such as Texas Chainsaw Massacre we concluded that the primary reason to film in such a setting was to create tension and communicate a sense of fear and the unknown of ‘what’s lurking in the trees’. We then decided that it would be a perfect setting to film our opening chase scene, due to the horror connotations and the expansive areas to run and communicate a distance for the chase. We also conformed to the audio forms and conventions of woodland scenes, involving the use of diegetic sound effects such as crows cawing and branches snapping, as it all contributed to the scary atmosphere we wanted to construct for the audience. Typically, the lighting for wooded scenes are dark, due to the tendency to film at night amongst the woods for added sense of fear. However we decided to challenge this convention and film close to dusk, where the lighting is light enough for the picture quality to be good, but also dark enough and overcast to communicate an unwelcoming and gloomy atmosphere. This decision was primarily for a production reason, due to lack of technology and equipment to shoot effectively at night, however we feel that the fact the woodland scenes are filmed in daylight suggests the possibility of a scary occurrence happening at any time; a frightening concept.

8. In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products – Analysis of key shots and forms and conventions In the opening scene amongst the wooded area we decided to conform to the incredibly common convention of chase scenes, particularly ones that occur in films of the Horror and the Thriller genre. This convention is the film technique and camera movement, hand-held camera. We executed this shot by holding the camera and running after the character Florence, to construct the sense of panic and desperation of escape. During this shot we also conformed to audio forms and conventions of chase scenes in the Horror genre, including the diegetic sound effects of heavy breathing and footsteps and also the non-diegetic suspenseful music to create a great sense of tension. All of these forms and conventions of chase scenes have been proven very successful in existing films and so we decided to achieve similar success for this specific shot in our film and to further match our film to the genre of Horror.

9. In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products – Analysis of key shots and forms and conventions This is a key shot taken from the sequence I formulated in post-production editing that includes cross-cutting, slow motion and non-diegetic music to create a strong chase scene which holds a significant sense of tension. It is a common convention to include a cross-cutting sequence during a chase scene in a film. However, we chose to develop this convention further by creating a rather abstract sequence to communicate the surreal ideas and distorted mind of the character Florence. This sense of surrealism in this sequence was created by slow motion of 50% and the application of non-diegetic music to play alongside the rest of the chase scene. The music we had chosen was a song called Seven Devils by Florence + The Machine, a current indie-rock band. We felt this song suited the film and this sequence very well due to the spooky and ominous elements to the song such as the continuous script of piano notes that run throughout the song that work as back-grounding notes. We also believed that the choice of music would target our teenage audience effectively as the target audience for the band range mainly from young teenagers to young adults, similar to our film. The extract from the song that I used was carefully clipped and positioned in post-production to achieve the most effective sound effect that in a way narrates alongside the chase scene. The lyrics include “Holy water cannot help me now” which could connote to our film and the situation that the character Florence is in at this time as “Holy water” could be a metaphor for anything that could help help her at the time, such as people or a weapon. The slow motion by 50% accentuated the suspense of the sequence and reinforces the sense of danger and desire for escape that the character experiences. This is a common convention for chase scenes to include an element of slow motion for the very reason that it exaggerates the chase by revealing the movement in such a way that the audience consumes every detail. We believe that this challenged the forms and conventions of cross-cutting chase scenes due to the typical suspenseful and tension building non-diegetic sound effects that run alongside the shots in existing films. Instead, we chose to select modern music to create tension and atmosphere.

10. In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products – Analysis of key shots and forms and conventions A common convention for the use of setting in films of the hybrid genres Slasher and Teen Horror is to use a large deserted, detached house with the absence of parents, for example in Scream 1 and 4. However as this was quite cliché for similar films, we decided to develop the idea to create a sense of realism and believability. We filmed the majority of the film and the murder scenes in the location of a detached house in a village, where surrounding houses are shown in one shot outside. This shows that the house and the teenagers were not completely deserted and separated from civilisation. This adds to the fearful elements in the film as it fuels the realistic approach to our film. This key shot was taken through a serving hatch in the kitchen, which proved to be an excellent and useful production technique that allowed us to film this unusual and effective camera angle. As most shots including characters conversing or doing something whilst facing a wall can only be filmed from the side of from behind due to the restriction of the wall, we have challenged this convention of camera angles by filming through the hatch, facing the characters. This allowed us to capture the facial expressions, specifically Florence’s reactions to what George says. The mise en scene used in this shot contributes to the construction of realism we intended to convey in our film. The mise en scene, predominantly the use of props (kettle, tea, coffee, mugs etc.), set the domestic scene and therefore conveying a sense of normality and equilibrium in the narrative. This is a convention in all films of any genre, to construct the representation of the setting and the characters, the props in this shot suggest that the characters are in the kitchen. Instantly we conformed to the convention of props and mise en scene, to construct representations of the setting and the characters in the film.

11. In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products – Analysis of key shots and forms and conventions Similarly to the opening surreal shot of the three masked figures to convey Florence’s mind, we have reinforced this idea and continued it throughout the film to retain the indication, to the audience, that Florence is seeing things in her mind that aren't really there. We had developed this idea and continuous theme in these particular shots through the use of video and audio effects. Both of these shots communicate the way Florence sees these characters in her mind, to the audience. They occur leading up to the death of each of the characters as it partly justifies why Florence intends to kill them, providing a reason for the audience instead of mindless killing that could cheapen the film and provide no real depth. Both shots have the visual effect desaturation and the video effect of blurred edges which was a very effective combination to display the intended message to the audience. I had applied an audio effect to the shot on the left that affected the speech of George in the shot, the effect was an echoing sound effect called ‘Cathedral’. However, I applied a different audio effect t the shot on the right which lowered the pitch of Claire’s speech to create an ominous and terrifyingly inhuman voice, called ‘Pitch Down 3’. Both of the audio effects work very well in conjunction with the visual effects and video effects and consequently both of these shots communicate perfectly that the audience is shown what Florence sees and hears in her mind.

12. In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products – Analysis of key shots and forms and conventions We decided to use the convention of having one main villain that would dominate the ‘bad’ of the binary opposition good/bad during the majority of the film. This is seen in many horror films such as Halloween with the singular killer Michael Myers. Involving the use of one main villain provides the audience with a clear sense of direction as to whom to be afraid of and what character invokes the fear out of them. We also decided to develop the idea of including a female main villain, which interested us when researching Scream 4 as they included a female killer. We thought this challenged the common convention of having male killers and villains, and therefore decided to develop it in our film. Another convention of films in the horror genre which involve a main villain or killer involves the audience; whether or not the audience know who the killer is or not. Keeping the audience in the dark and retaining the mystery of the killer is certainly a way to create tension and anticipation, fitting for a horror movie. However, we decided to reveal the identity of the main villain. This was partly due to the restricted length of our film, as we had limited time for character building. Therefore we decided to shock our audience and create the sense of fear by blatantly displaying the horrific extents of the character, as we had no time for that sense of mystery of who the killer might be. Although, we had decided to keep the mystery between the characters in the narrative; therefore for the majority of the film the characters would not know who was the killer. Similarly to the famous and successful horror movie director, Alfred Hitchcock and his film Frenzy where he executed the obvious presentation of the killer to the audience but kept his characters naïve about the villain. This shot also reflects the forms and convention of a way that characters can be killed in horror films. The main villain/killer is seen to be angry and screaming as they go ‘in for the kill’ which is common in almost all existing films of the genre. The use of the knife is also a common convention, as the weapon in films of the hybrid genres Slasher and Teen Horror is predominantly a knife. Here, the character, George, is killed off shot with the knife, to prevent the imagery of gore. This challenges the convention of many horror films where blood and stab wounds are displayed throughout, however due to the shortness of our film we decided that we don’t require gore to communicate the sense of fear in our horror film. Also we imagined our film to have a age certificate of about 15 and many films, particularly older ones, with that specific age certificate would never involve gore, only a strong psychological aspect which invokes fear amongst its audiences. Another convention which we had developed in our film.

13. In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products – Analysis of key shots and forms and conventions A common convention in films of the Horror genre is to include an element of hopelessness and lack of an essential feature in the narrative. In many cases this is produced in the form of a power cut, creating a loss of lighting, which instantly creates a hugely frightening atmosphere and a sense of danger. Therefore we desired to conform to this popular convention to further suit our film comfortably in the genre of horror. Consequently, we included a power cut scene, where, to make it more convincing, we turned off the lights and the TV at the same time so the audience can notice two electrical items turning off, making the predictable scene believable. To achieve an effective power cut we knew that we had to have some light source throughout filming, since the limit on time for our film restricts waste of filming on utter darkness. Therefore we used a phone to keep Claire’s face illuminated to reveal her reaction to the power cut, to the audience. I believe this shot worked very well as the power cut was executed convincingly and there was no time wasted on filming darkness due to the use of a small, yet relevant to the narrative, light source. As teenagers are using there phone the majority of the time, it just simply adds to the realism and believability of the film and the events that occur throughout.

14. In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products – Analysis of key shots and forms and conventions After researching films as well as TV programmes in the Horror-Drama genre such as Supernatural we identified certain film techniques that would be very effective if we included them in our own film. In Supernatural there are often dimly lit scenes and so the need for a torch becomes a popular theme in many episodes. As a torch seems to be the obvious source of light for a power cut, it is often a convention amongst TV programmes and films of the Horror genre to include a torch as a prop, alongside candles. A significant film technique that we identified and were intrigued by in Supernatural was the way in which they used the torch to create a transition between shots. Therefore in place of a simple cut, the actor would direct the torch towards the camera and blind the camera with light, creating an opportunity for a manual ‘White Fade’ transition. This convention that I have only seen in the TV series Supernatural is a creative and effective way to move between shots that is subtle as well, as the audience could not even notice it due to the tendency for someone to wave a torch around in all directions to see their surroundings. The way this transition impressed us meant that we too would use the torch in this exact way to create a manual transition. I was very happy with the result of this technique as it worked very well with subtlety.

15. In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products – Analysis of key shots and forms and conventions It is a convention in some Horror films to include a lack of lighting, and so directors use ingenious ideas to increase the limited lighting from a small source such as a torch or a candle. One popular idea for filmmakers is to use glass or other transparent materials to reflect the light that is used, creating small areas of bright light in the shot. This is a convention that we developed with the use of the torch in our scene with Claire’s attempted escape. We decided to film Claire entering a room with a chandelier in it, as this would be a great addition to the ominous mise en scene and also provide an interesting other light source to the shot, due to the reflections on the glass. We filmed a still from stationary within the room and began to track Claire’s movement as she entered and ran through the room. The chandelier acts as a dominant feature in the mise on scene for this shot due to the increased lighting the reflections made from the torch. Chandeliers are also quite conventional in films of the Horror genre due to their spooky connotations, as they are a key feature to ‘haunted houses’ in horror films.

16. In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products – Analysis of key shots and forms and conventions We decided to conform the forms and conventions of Horror films and the inclusion of doors and their horrific value. Often, directors use doors as a way to invoke fear from the target audience of a horror film due to the various themes you can apply to filming with doors. It is a standard horror film convention to include the sound effects of creaking doors and doors slowly opening to suggest to the audience that something is about to enter a scene and scare them and the character in shot. However we decided this was too much of a cliché to involve in our film and so we challenged this convention by instead utilizing the door to exaggerate a desperation for escape. We conveyed this idea through a lot of loud and vicious movement on Claire’s part to open the door and leave the room. This is the key shot of Claire struggling with the conservatory door, which created a lot of creaking and crashing noises, therefore eliminating the requirement for added diegetic sound effects in post-production. We used hand-held camera at this point to exaggerate the erratic movement of opening the door, which reflected Claire’s desperation in escaping from the house. We used the torch for lighting again in this shot as it reflects the realistic approach to opening doors in darkness by shining the light source on the door to know how to open it. This also acted as a great way to illuminate the shot and show the action in the frame, with the erratic movement with the torch.

17. In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products – Analysis of key shots and forms and conventions We decided to mimic Hitchcock’s convention of not showing the murder scenes of the characters, but rather show the action of our main villain attempting to kill them. We have employed this convention for each killing throughout our film, as we thought it was better to leave the gore and the actual killings to the audience’s imagination. We also decided on using this convention of Hitchcock’s for production reasons and lack of resources to produce a realistic, gory murder scene. We believed that if we incorporated these scenes into our short film, it would lower the standard of a convincing horror film, due to the obvious fake killings we would not be able to avoid. Hitchcock’s techniques in his film played a large part in producing ideas for our own film as they were created a long time ago when a lot of the new technology and equipment that are used today in the film industry were not invented. Therefore we felt we had a similar scenario to when he produced his films, as we had a lack of equipment and production due to budget. This connection we had made between us and Hitchcock lead us to the decision to adopt many film techniques and conventions he had incorporated in his horror films to create a successful result. So we also researched Psycho (1960), specifically the shower scene where Lila is killed by Norman. This scene is famous for its use of horrific climactic non-diegetic music to exaggerate the impact of a lo-fi death in the film, due to the lack of technology. As this scene was so successful in its time at creating a strong sense of terror, we decided to incorporate similar climactic and suspenseful music at the time of the killing’s to exaggerate the content of the scene; reinforcing the intended fear that isn’t shown visually with audio. This is the final shot of the film and exists in the form of a freeze frame just before the end credits to our film. This is a way of challenging the forms and conventions of the ways in which films are ended. Due to the length of the film it was difficult to end it on an impact with just the audience’s knowledge of the final killing, therefore I applied a two-second ‘flash-and-hold’ freeze frame of the last shot in conjunction with the suspenseful sound effect. This communicated a higher sense of fear as the final shot of Claire about to be murdered is screened for longer, allowing the audience to consume this concluding shot fully, acknowledging the terrifying elements of it and the horror that is about to occur.

18. In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products – Analysis of film poster and the forms and conventions The form and convention of images for film posters can be fairly varied, however I chose the convention to include secondary images which convey more information about the film and the main villain. I positioned this portrait shot of the main villain, Florence top left, surrounding the main image. The image acts as a hook to entice people to want to see the film. I have used the convention of positioning all of the actor’s names at the top of the film poster. This convention was used in the film poster for The Haunting of Molly Hartley that I researched previous to my production. I have enlarged the surname of the actor underneath the forename in the similar form from my research of existing media products. This is a creative, stylistic convention that many film posters may use depending on their photography. I have edited this main image in such a way that applies a lens flare filter to accentuate the knife being held. Lens flares are popular in film advertising as it appears professional due to the reference and relation to the film industry and camerawork. Here is the release date for the film, a convention of almost all film posters of any genre. It is also conventional to position it at the bottom of the layout of the poster, as people tend to read from top downwards and so the release date is to be the last thing that a reader will see, after determining whether or not they are interested in watching the film. I decided to conform to the recent convention of film posters of positioning the film title in the lower half of the whole layout, beneath the main image similarly to the film posters for Semum and The Haunting of Molly Hartley from my research. In my research I found it conventional to have a black background due to all three of the existing film posters I looked at had included it. Therefore I decided I was going to adopt this convention and place a solid black colour fill that surrounds the content of the film poster. It is also conventional for film posters in the genre of Horror as the colour black connotes death and despair, fitting for the genre. As part of the convention to include all of the technical information at the bottom of the poster layout, I have created my own production company logo and placed it underneath all of the information. It is conventional for film posters to place copies of logos from production companies and funding and so I chose to conform to this particular convention.

19. In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products – Analysis of film poster and the forms and conventions After observing other film posters than the 3 I had analysed it became apparent to me that it is a convention for some posters to include a quote from a review in a magazine or online. Therefore I have invented a quote from a review and sourced it from Total Magazine. This quote acts as another hook to entice the audience to watch the film. This is another secondary image which I have placed top right of the poster, above the main image and opposite the other secondary image. It reveals the opening shot of the three masked figures looming out of the abandoned shed, as this is such an abstract shot it invokes interest from the audience. Therefore it acts as a hook to entice the audience to watch the film. It is a common convention amongst film posters to include a strapline/slogan to the film, positioned underneath the film title. Therefore I decided to conform to this to match real media products. The strapline invokes interest from the audience as it conveys a sense of mystery. The use of the word ‘fear’ connotes to the genre of Horror very well, thus enticing the audience to see the film and find out exactly what is to ‘fear’. Here is the technical information about the film regarding directors, producers, editors etc. This information is conventionally placed near the bottom under all main imagery and hooks on the film poster. It is also conventional to have an altered font, elongated letters and various font sizes for names and their role in the filmmaking process. This information provides the audience with concrete details about the film that could influence a reader to decide to see the film due to favourite or known actors/directors etc.

20. In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products – Analysis of Double page spread and the forms and conventions It is a convention for some magazines to include a short sentence or paragraph to reveal a little about the film to grab a reader’s attention at first glance. Common convention to include preliminary details about the film previous to the article as it provides the reader with interesting facts that may sell the film more to the audience by informing them of technical details. I have included these details in the form of a list that has been boxed off by thick red lines which works well in conjunction with the colour scheme. In researching double page spreads I concluded that it is a common convention to have one side of the double page spread as an entire photograph, consequently making it the main image. Here I have decided to arrange these masks which feature prominently in the film, to form the main image as they take up the majority of a single page. I took separate photos of each mask and arranged them on Photoshop. This image is secondary to the main image as it is the only image positioned on the right-hand singular page. It reveals to the audience the killer and the weapon, which could be argued is ‘giving too much away’ however, I believe it provides the audience with enough mysterious detail to entice them to see them film. I have softly erased the edges of the photograph to make it blend in well with the background and the callout on top. It is a convention of all magazine double page spreads to include the page number, the date of issue and the name of the magazine in the bottom left-hand corner of the left-hand single page. Therefore I decided to conform to this convention. Common convention to enlarge the font of the ‘initial capital’, a ‘drop capital’ to act as a visual cue, indicating the start of the article and therefore drawing attention to the text, as this is a common convention for all magazines I decided I would incoroporate it into the text. It is also a common convention to include the film’s official website at the bottom of the double page spread as reference for readers and so I decided to adopt this convention into my own double page spread.

21. In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products – Analysis of Double page spread and the forms and conventions The convention for the title of the film on double page spread film articles that I have chosen to conform to involves the use of the title positioned above the article. I chose this convention rather than the convention of not displaying the title of the film so obviously but describing the film in a phrase and using that as a title, as the latter convention I feel is not direct enough to introduce the article. I have placed two secondary images to the main image that is positioned in the middle of the page. I Have softly erased the edges and unwanted areas of the photograph so that the pictures would blend in well with the background and fade into the shadows of the masks. I have also adjusted the opacity of the lower image as I wanted more of the background to appear on the left-hand side which required reducing the opacity by about 50% to show enough of the image and the background. It is a popular convention for almost all articles to include a callout from the text that is integrated between paragraphs. It existed in two examples of articles from my double page spread research. Due to the popularity of this convention I decided to incorporate it into my own double page spread. It is a convention for some magazines to include a short sentence or paragraph to reveal a little about the film to grab a reader’s attention at first glance. I have conformed to this convention in this form of stating mine and my partner’s roles in the filmmaking process of our film. As the convention for a single page of a double page spread is to include two or three columns I decided to conform to using two columns, as it allowed me to use a larger font than if I tried to fit it into three columns in the same space. In one example from my double page spreads research there seemed to be a decorated page for the single page that contained the text and did not contain the main image. This decoration linked the first page of graphics and the main image with the second page of the double page spread. This is an intention for all main images that conform to the convention of bleeding into the next page – linking the two pages to create a more defined double page spread rather than seeming like two separate articles. Therefore I needed to create this common feature to form the link to conform to this convention. So, I designed a high resolution A3 image on Photoshop that acted as a background to the article. I created this by layering multiple ‘fill colour’ layers and using the rubber tool in the form of brushes that I downloaded as a set which consisted of scratches and blood shaped brushes. I ‘scratched’ through each colour layer to reveal the many colours I had layered. I then darkened the edges with a darkening brush.

22. 2. How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary texts? • I believe the combination of my film and my ancillary texts, the film poster and double page spread, work very effectively together as a collaboration. I have constructed a clear correlation between each print production to represent the film and convey the ideas and genre of it to the target audience. • Here is an example of how I have created a continuity • between all three of my productions. I have used • Perpetua Titling MT for the iconic font for my film, • as it communicates a sense of fear and indication to • its genre. I have used this font for the film title on • my double page spread article and my film film • poster, accordingly with the title in the film’s • credits. This continuity was essential in linking • the three productions together as it conforms • to the forms and conventions ofreal media • products. This is a convention of real media • products primarily for marketing purposes, specifically, advertising for the film.

23. 2. How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary texts? • Another way in which my film and ancillary texts worked together through a creation of continuity was by use of images that depict scenes and the characters from the film. The audience can witness these leaks of content in the form of stills on the poster and the double page spread to invoke the desire to watch the film. The fact they leak content of the film and reveal information about the scenes and content extends the continuity between all three productions because it is using the same raw content as the film. This is because these images were taken throughout the filming process. • Another branch of continuity between the texts concerns the characters that are depicted from the images. There are references to the main antagonist, Florence, between both the double page spread and the poster and reveals her destructive side with the involvement of the knife. There are also references to Claire, the main protagonist, as the two images on the double page spread show her as a victim, screaming and defending herself. She is also seen in a mask on the far right of the movie still of the three masked figures – which then references to the involvement and significance of the masks used on the double page spread as the main image. This continuity between the images of the two print texts with the narrative and content of the film proves that all three texts work very well together.

24. 3. What have you learned from your audience feedback? • Our audience feedback consisted of a preliminary questionnaire to gather ideas and our target audience’s views on current horror films. We asked relevant questions to how to execute our production with regards to music, narrative, and characters. The feedback we received was fairly constructive and allowed us to determine how to go about creating the narrative and fashioning the shooting and dialogue scripts. We formulated our decision to not include a romantic sub-narrative as from our audience research we found it was a feature in horror films they did not like as it subverts from the genre. We also came to the conclusion that music was vital in communicating and accentuating the horror elements in our film to convey conventions of the genre. • As we completed our film we had also designed another questionnaire, this time we distributed it after the screenings of our film to receive feedback on the real product from our target audience. We received some very positive feedback from this questionnaire without comments for improvement, therefore communicating to us that our film was good and didn’t require much attention to correcting scenes or adjusting certain features of the film. The only criticism we received was for how two shots were cut in the sequence, which I cleaned up with the use of a ‘dissolve’ transition. After our final screening of the completed film the questionnaire we distributed gained very positive responses. We learnt how the audience liked the way, for a short film, the narrative flowed and covered various ideas. We also learnt that the music choices and sound effects were very effective in communicating the fear in each scene, furthermore we learnt the creation of tension was executed excellently.

25. 3. What have you learned from your audience feedback? • We decided a great way to achieve instant feedback was from releasing it onto Facebook, therefore allowing all of my friends on Facebook to access our film via a link I posted on my status. • Here is a screen shot of the status and the success of 22 likes it had • received at this point. I have also screen shot some of the comments that • my friends had posted on it in response, which is what we intended to • provoke for audience research. These positive comments and number • of likes boosted my confidence in our film and the way I edited the • sequence. From this feedback we learnt that our film was very well • received regardless of the fact it was posted as a status on Facebook, • which requires a Facebook user to take their time to click the link and • watch our film. • Also, as the film was exported to Youtube, other users and viewers have viewed the film since it was uploaded. Here the number of views is 202 and we have received 5 likes so far and it is still growing on Youtube. We learnt from these views and likes that not only a friend audience from Facebook, but unknown people, possibly surfing Youtube, had watched the film and enjoyed it. After this technique of gathering feedback and the previous questionnaire’s I still felt we required final confirmation that our film works well and applies the forms and conventions of films from the same genre.

26. 3. What have you learned from your audience feedback? • We decided that to receive concrete, personal feedback from our audience was essential in learning about the success of the completed film and the changes from the first screenings of the rough cut sequences. Therefore, we organised a final screening with the same audience as our previous screenings, in order for them to fully comment on the development between the rough cut screenings to the final edit. • We received very positive feedback where the issues highlighted by the audience in the previous screenings were “addressed tentatively” with “care and consideration” to their ideas and valid points and opinions. This consisted of unclean cuts between frames and some sound effects and transitions which were not entirely successful. It is always useful to have outside perspectives of your own work due to the fact you know your film inside out and so attention to certain details can be missed. • The audience mentioned how the film is believable as a real media product due to its “professional standard” which was a perfect response for recognising accomplishment and other’s admiration for our production. It also communicates to me that I executed the editing and my ancillary texts well as I managed to conform to the forms and conventions which create a media product and its genre.

27. 4. How did you use media technologies in the construction and research, planning and evaluation stages? I used the program iMovie edit and construct our short film. I had used iMovie previously to our main task in the preliminary task where I learnt how to edit and craft a sequence with the frames. The preliminary task was a way of getting to grips with the program and its basic features. My skills in the program then developed as I edited our entire short film, where I learnt various techniques and tricks to make the most out of the footage we had. Basic techniques included how to import clips recorded on the Sony Handycam Camera we had used to film and how to select certain clips and drag them up to the project area, where the film is created. Other techniques included how and when to cut frames and clips in the sequence to make the narrative flow smoothly, which is witnessed in the preview box to the right. More advanced techniques involved the alterations of clip, video and audio. Selecting the option to make adjustments to these three things brings up a box where you can apply a range of changes to the sound, volume, video colourand lighting, as well as apply video or audio effects which dramatically change the scene. For all the outside shots at the beginning I increased the contrast and saturation slightly just to improve the quality of the footage slightly. For the shots which depicted Florence’s mind I applied a visual and an audio effect to reflect the surrealism of the scene.

28. 4. How did you use media technologies in the construction and research, planning and evaluation stages? Adobe Photoshop played a huge part in the construction stages of my print pieces. My entire film poster was designed on Photoshop in which I utilized various techniques and photo editing skils to the best standard I could achieve to present an industry-standard poster. As I had used this program before in AS I was very comfortable using it again with even more knowledge of the program, which consequently caused my skills in the program to develop. To create the poster I manipulated the lighting and the colour on three photographs we had taken during the filming process. I also used a soft brush in a black colour to erase the edges of the subjects in the images to make them blend in with the black background of the poster. I then applied text to areas of the poster for the details about the film, including the actors, title, slogan, release date etc. For my double page spread I desired to have a horror related background to convey the genre of the film to the audience as they first looked at the page, this would hook fans of the horror genre if it were a real media product. Therefore on Photoshop, I had decided I was going to create my own background with high resolution as large format pictures on the internet were too low quality to include as a background to the article. In production of this self-created background I applied various colour fill layers, which included the colours black, green-brown, light-brown, dark-brown, grey, red and dark red. After layering each colour fill I then used the rubber tool on each layer, selecting a range of brushes in the forms of scratches and blood and other horror related shapes, which I had downloaded for this purpose. This meant I could ‘scratch’ through the layers and reveal all the colours in one large background, showing clearly the horrific scratches and blood. I then used a smoke brush tool I had also downloaded on the right hand side area for the text to be placed on Adobe InDesign.

29. 4. How did you use media technologies in the construction and research, planning and evaluation stages? Adobe InDesign was the program I used to complete my double page spread. As I had used it in AS level I felt comfortable using it and utilizing its features which are perfect for double page spreads and articles. What makes it so perfect for double page spreads is the ability to apply columns as outlines for text boxes to be placed. In the screen shot above it is clear I have opened my background, created in Photoshop, and applied 6 columns to the page. This is so I could have three columns on the right hand side of the background where the smoke is, as this was where the text was inserted. The left hand side of the double page spread was where I then placed the images and callouts. The columns have another use, which is that there is an ability to use text flow, which means that when typing the article, the text flows into the other column as soon as the first column runs out of space. I was happy with InDesign and its features to accomplish my double page spread to the highest standard I could achieve.

30. 4. How did you use media technologies in the construction and research, planning and evaluation stages? In post-production in iMovie I required the use of iTunes to import sounds and tracks into iMovie to then apply them to the clips in the sequence. These included free sound effects I had downloaded which automatically were imported to iTunes, as well as the track ‘Seven Devils’ by Florence + The machine which we used heavily in our film. The collaboration between iMovie and iTunes was excellent and made it very easy to import them. However, I only required an extract of the track ‘Seven Devils’ by Florence + The Machine, therefore I had to somehow cut it out of the track, otherwise I would have had to select the extract from the entire 4 minute track on iMovie, which proved to be an almost impossible, time consuming task. Therefore I found another way of cutting down a track to achieve just the extract I required, through the use of a program called Audacity. I managed to get a free download of the program (screenshot of it on the right) and got to grips with its functions immediately, it was pretty straightforward. I imported the track ‘Seven Devils’ from my music files which brought up the track-panel and waveform (the blue area). Then I could click and drag to highlight the areas and sections of the track I required. Once I made my selection I clicked the crop button which then cut the entire clip down to the 30 second extract I wanted to use. Once this was saved into iTunes I then imported it into iMovie nice and simply.

31. 4. How did you use media technologies in the construction and research, planning and evaluation stages? In the planning and evaluation stages I used wordpress.com, an online blogging site where all of my research, evaluative conclusions about productions, and my production developments was posted. It was a great space to upload all of my ideas and work onto neatly and efficiently. Having all of my documents and ideas on this blog allowed me to refer back to them when filming and producing my print pieces. It acted as a guide for planning each of my productions. As I used wordpressin AS level I had got to grips with how to use it and all of its functions regarding posts., therefore I felt it was a great platform to organise all of my thoughts and practical work. I came across a few difficulties regarding posting as the website seemed slightly unreliable due to the site crashing a few times, however the site worked very well for the majority of the time and I was pretty satisfied with the interaction of it and ways to upload files and other media, including youtube links which are allowed to be played directly from the blog.