Evaluation activity 1

In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge

forms and conventions of real media products? (i.e. of film openings)

Overall, I believe that our film opening successfully uses and develops particular forms and conventions of real horror films. Through research and experimentation, I was able to understand what conventions we needed to include in order to attract our target audience and reach their expectations. Using horror films such as „The Blair witch project‟, „Cabin in the woods‟ and other various films, I think that we have been able to achieve a successful result. In this evaluation activity, I will evaluate the ways in which our media product uses and develops these conventions and compare them to ones used in real horror films.

The storyline for our film opening is based around a group of teenagers who are doing the Duke Of Edinburgh expedition and come across a small barn where they decide to stay for the night. However as they look around the barn, they begin to hear and see unusual things which makes them question who or what has lived/worked there before. Ultimately in the film, the unusual presence becomes clear and the characters find out that the barn in which they are staying used to be owned by a milkman who looked after the cows. They also discover that in the previous year, there was a disease that spread through all of the cows and instantly killed them all. Since that day, the man who looked after the cows was never seen again. However throughout the film, we are introduced to this character as he starts to play tricks on the four teenagers and keeps them captive in his barn. The characters try to escape but are caught and ultimately three of the characters are killed. The order of deaths between the characters is used as a representation of their confidence in the film opening. For example, Billy begins with an overconfident personality and is the character who persuades the rest of them to stay at the barn. He is the first character who is killed by the Milkman whilst Ben, the character who is represented in the film opening with a sensible personality is the only one who manages to escape. The film ends with Ben returning from the DOFE expedition back to his home, covered in cuts and bruises and without three of his friends.

After producing a quick mind map of possible title name ideas, we decided on the title ‘The Milkman‟. This was due to the fact that the storyline is based around this mysterious character and that he is the cause of the horror in the film. The majority of horror films use an event or character that plays a huge part in the film storyline such as “The ring”, “IT” and “Cabin in the woods”. This convention is used by most film producers to entice the audience and make them question the significance the title name has to the storyline. Likewise, we used „The Milkman‟ as our film title name because it will encourage our target audience to watch the film and find out the importance of this character. Also, through using a name that is not usually associated with a horror genre or any other scary situation, it will leave the audience questioning how an innocent person like a Milkman could play any part in a horror film. We made sure that the title would remain simple and not give away too much of the film.

The setting and location of our film opening is used to mirror a similar setting that one would see on a Duke of Edinburgh expedition. We used a field that wasn‟t being used which was situated in front of a derelict barn. As the characters are lost in the film opening, we purposely made sure that there was no sign of civilisation around other than the barn. I think that we successfully used this convention in our film opening and introduced the setting well through a long establishing shot and panning movements. We used low key lighting to establish the setting and in order to conform to the horror genre. It is typically known for horror film directors to use low key editing when introducing the setting as it creates a mysterious, dark atmosphere. Another location we used of course was the barn. Using a derelict location allowed us to create a creepy surrounding and further reinforce the characters isolation. The barn was ideal because it fitted with our storyline and looked as if it had recently been used for farming but has now been neglected.

Because our actors are of the same demographic to the characters, we did not need to spend a lot of time worrying about the costumes. However, in order to suggest that the characters were on their Duke Of Edinburgh expedition, we had to make sure that the characters were wearing warm clothes such as coats and gloves as well as practical clothes such as hiking boots. We also had to use props like the sleeping bags, tent bags and large rucksacks to suggest that they were planning on setting up camp throughout the walk. This is similar to The Blair witch project where they all carry large bags and wear practical clothing during their expedition.

Also, some other props we used included corn flour and water (to suggest milk), a hammer covered in ketchup (to suggest blood), farm machinery and a map. I think that the props we used inside the barn were most successful at conforming to the horror genre and are a great example of how we used typical horror conventions. Most horror films use props like ours to scare the audience.

Throughout our film opening we tried to include a large variety of different camera shots, compositions and movements. We used certain shots to suggest certain emotions, events or settings. For example the first image above is an example of how we used a two shot to suggest the characters in front (Billy and Phoebe) ignoring the character behind (Ben). This was to introduce character relationships and illustrate the unfaithful flirting between Phoebe and Billy. We purposely made sure that the depth of field within the shot was short so that the two characters in the foreground were in focus whilst Ben was out of focus.

The image above is an example of how we were able to use the match on action technique. This involved a medium shot of Martha pointing to the barn which then cut to a medium shot of the barn with her hand in the bottom right hand corner. This suggested that her hand had remained in the same place as the characters look down at the barn. Also the fact that we didn‟t incorporate the 180 degree rule or shot reverse shot rule meant that we could enhance the sense of confusion and worry between the characters.

An editing technique that I thought worked extremely well was the inverted sound of the characters screaming when they reach the barn. We did this by reversing the sound in iMovie. The result sounded inhuman and creepy which will put the audience on edge and make them feel uncomfortable. I think that we could have used more editing techniques in order to conform to the horror genre. However I believe the techniques that we did use worked well.

The title font and style of our film was kept simple like other horror films such as paranormal activity and the Blair witch project. I think that if we had used any fancy font styles, it could have ruined the effect of the name. The colour of the title stands out against the black background which will immediately capture the audiences attention. Similar to the paranormal activity title style, we used a flickering effect alongside a crackling sound on iMovie to suggest something broken. I think that it is used effectively because it allows the audiences heart rates to slow back down and prepare them for the start of the film. The colour white has connotations of a supernatural presence or innocence. This could be used as irony because it further reinforces the innocence of the „Milkman‟ who actually is a contaminated murderer in the film.

The opening is based primarily around a dream that the character, Ben is experiencing. The dream is used to slightly foreshadow the rest of the film and give hints to what is going to happen later on in the story. We had to make sure that we didn‟t give too much away in the film opening as we wouldn‟t want to spoil the experience for our audience. In order to suggest that the first two minutes weren‟t yet reality but they were part of a dream sequence, we had to use particular editing and camera work techniques to create a surreal effect and that the character was waking up towards the end. We also included scenes which would later be shown in the film to show that Ben is over thinking and worrying in his dream, as young teenagers often do. The end of the dream sequence when Ben wakes up and looks at his phone where it read “Duke Of Edinburgh” makes the audience question whether all that happened in the dream will ultimately happen in real life for Ben.

I think that the genre is mainly suggested through the use of music and miseen scene. Right from the beginning of the film opening we have used an eerie sound track which creates an uncomfortable atmosphere. Most horror films are introduced with a scary soundtrack to straight away prepare the audience for the further thrill throughout the film such as „The others‟. The props that we used such as the blood covered hammer and the farm machinery helps to add value to the killer and plot. Many films of the horror genre use weapons to suggest that the character is a killer.

The characters are all first introduced at the beginning of the film opening. Through the dialogue exchanged by each character, we are able to introduce their personality and how they deal with the situation. We have also managed to portray the character relationships through clever use of camera work and acting. For example, the two shot shown above on the left was used in our film opening to illustrate the relationship between the three characters. We purposely altered the depth of field so that Ben was out of focus. This was used to inform the audience of Ben‟s feelings and how he feels neglected by his girlfriend, Phoebe. It also represents Billy as an over confident character who is thoughtless of Ben‟s feelings and how Phoebe is an easily lead „flirt‟. We then introduce the character of Martha where she interrupts with “For god‟s sake, we don‟t need your relationship problems”. This automatically represents Martha as the peacemaker of the group and the character who is much more wary of what is happening. She is also not afraid to stand up to the others and so is also represented as being quite confident. In the first 30 seconds of our film opening, the audience are introduced to the four stereotypes of the group (The flirt, the peacemaker, the jock/alpha male and the outcast) all of which are commonly used in well known horror films such as Cabin in the woods. Like our film, Cabin in the woods purposely orders the death s of the characters in a particular way. It starts with „the flirt‟ or the „girl next door‟ as she is the weakest character, it then is the over confident character who the audience don‟t often like. (It almost pleases them and makes them want to watch the rest) The next death is the other male character and finally the last two that are standing are the two that were originally introduced as the outcasts or under confident characters. This is similar to our film as Ben, the outcast is the only character who returns from the expedition alive.

We didn‟t use very many special effects in our film opening because we didn‟t want anything to appear unprofessional if we weren‟t able to produce it to a good enough quality. However in order to create the surreal effect of a dream sequence we adjusted the brightness and contrast of the shots at the beginning using iMovie. All of the transitions we used in our film opening were simple fade in and fade out so that there was no sign of editing for the viewers. Another special effect we used was reversing the sound of the characters screaming which created a inhuman noise. If the character were to be introduced in our film opening we would have used prosthetics on his face such as scars and pale skin. This is a convention used by a lot of horror films such as The ring and Cabin in the woods.