It is was important that features in our production conformed with the stereotypical horror film as it would appeal to our target audience. However we did conform to all the conventions of a horror as we wanted to experiment on what looked effective and what didn't look so ideal. These conventions range from using a male antagonist, to using blood and gore to attract the audience.
In what ways does your media product use, develop, challenge forms and conventions of real media products?
Our media production was mostly inspired by the film 'The Strangers' directed by Bryan Bertino, which involves three antagonists taunting a new wedded couple. The three antagonists all wore masks; a two china dolls masks and someone with an old woven bag over their head, which is where we were inspired to use an antagonist similarly to this antagonist. Our production used many of the conventions which are within a horror film, for example, we showed a sneak peak of gore, which is stereotypically present within horrors. Using this would therefore generally intrigue more a of an make audience. We also used the conventions of having our antagonist masked, as it hides the identity of our antagonists therefore creating an enigma, which real media products use to increase the suspense and to sometimes use a plot twist. We also used a everyday household which allows the audience to associate with the film more as they can relate to this happening to them, which again, is a convention which real media products use. Furthermore we used many other elements which feature within stereotypical horror films, such as the protagonist being portrayed as innocent (by them being a young lady and the use of clothing), the use of involving gore, the locations, the use of clothing throughout the film, and many many more elements. However, we developed the use of some camera shots such as using the unusual under the water shot, which could be seen as us challenging the conventions of the real media products as they do not use as much of these shots.
In what ways has your production used or developed conventions from real media products?
As I have said, we had used many elements which feature within a stereotypical horror film, therefore making our film effective and very professional looking. We used such elements as the use of gore, a masked antagonist, countless close up shots to build up tension, location of having scary but everyday places and many more things. Following these conventions portrayed a clear genre of our opening two minutes, meaning there would be no confusion on what genre it is, which can be a partial cause to a failure of a film. However the use of having the under the water shot showed how we developed conventions as we started using more unusual shots, which was fairly difficult as we needed to keep the continuity of the film.
In what ways has your products challenged or played with conventions?
Our production we produced didn't really challenge or play with the conventions of a horror film. We decided that we should stick to the conventions of horrors and develop some parts, therefore making it unique to us. Challenging the conventions would be easier to show if we had longer than two minutes, however we didn't have this luxury. However, to challenge the conventions we could of had the antagonist taking off the mask at the end of the opening two minutes, as this would shock the audience as they found out who the antagonist is from the outset, or is there a plot twist...
Is your work generic or experimental or both?
Some parts of our work was experimental as we needed to see what would work and what shots didn't, meaning elements of our work was experimental. We experimented with different shots from high to low angled, to extreme close ups to long shots, this allowed us to see which shots were best and more effective. We also experimented on the special effects, props used during filming, costumes and the locations of the film. However our work was mainly generic as it followed the conventions of a stereotypical horror film.
Have you developed a style?
Our opening involved a lot of the stereotypical conventions of a horror, meaning that we didn't create a new style. Although, we didn't create a new style, we ensured that we made the film as effective and as professional as we could.
Have you been influenced by the work of specific directors?
Well, I am a massive fan of horrors, even though they make me scared, I just love the adrenaline they create. This means I have watched countless horrors, meaning I could use my cinematic experience for our production. This meant, during the research phase, we could make numerous ideas, which were influenced by our past knowledge of horrors we have watched, which made it easier for use to generate storyboards and images of what our production was going to look like. We were influenced by a few directors within the film film industry, such as; Bryan Bertino, the director of 'The Strangers', Scott Derrickson, the director of 'Sinister' and finally, James Wan, director of many horrors, for example, 'The Conjuring', 'Insideous' and the serial films 'Saw'. These directors influenced us in different ways but the biggest influence was Bryan Bertino's 'The Strangers', as our antagonist was based mostly on the antagonist within in Bertino's film. We were so influenced by this film as it was so realistic, which made the audience, including me, to think that this could actually happen, due to the antagonist clothing being so everyday and using a household location of where all the horrifying true events occurred. The antagonist in 'The Strangers' wore a tattered old brown suit, which made the character frightening as it was an everyday outfit what people could where during a normal day. They also wore a mask to cover their identity, but also having only black eye holes for on the mask, further increases the scariness of the antagonist. We decided that this antagonist would be ideal for our production, which is why we used a brown towel for the mask with a stitched face on it and a brown jacket and jumper, which made our antagonist look horrifying, especially as you only see him in the last shot of the whole production. Not only did 'The Strangers' influenced us but also the director of 'Insideous', as having used a household location, it would make the film more relatable, as the audience would think this could happen to them; therefore increasing the adrenaline and tension the film creates. Insideous also uses an innocent family, which makes the audience feel sympathetic for them, which is why we used a young lady, as we thought the audience would appeal more to her. Both James Wan and Scott Derrickson, also involved countless jumpy parts, which would make the audience jump, which we wanted to include in ours, so we did. What all three of these directors used were a range of different camera shots, including POV (point of view) shots panning long shots etc. This really attract us, as media students, as we wanted to put inventive and creative shots in our production, similarly to all three of these directors. Whatever the horror is,these three directors all explore new ways of intriguing their target audience, through the use of camera shots to even just the storyline and plot of the film; they are inspirational.
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