In what ways does your media product use, develop or Challenge
forms and conventions of real media product?For our opening
sequence, our group realised that the opening sequence had to
establish the genre to our target audience. We had to gain a full
understanding of how we could develop or challenge real media
products to our own opening sequence. In order for us to do this,
we had to analyse other Teen slasher films, for example:Nightmare
on Elm Stet, the Cabin in the Woods and Halloween
Our goal was to follow the conventions presented in these types
of films so that our opening sequence could immediately present
what type of genre of sequence it is, however, we also wanted to
challenge the forms and conventions so that our opening sequence
can instantly set the mood of the film and also be unique. In
Nightmare on Elm Street the opening sequence there is a close up of
the killer watching the girl as she makes her way through the
factory, as soon as the frame is on the killer, he disappears.
Therefore, we featured the killer looking at the victim by framing
an extreme longshot of the killer in the background, and the couple
walking on the path. We did this in various types of shot angles
until we chose the one we thought was the most effective that
suited our opening sequence.The overall product of our opening
sequence had some real media products because a majority of the
slasher/horror films are produced annually by UK film industries
meaning the effects we use, or the items we use in our opening
sequence would have already been used in more mainstream slasher
films. E.g. the typical weapon used in Halloween was a kitchen
knife. The typical effects used were CGI victims who are covered in
fake blood and horrifically killed.Overall, our group believed we
were successful when it came to meeting the conventions of real
media products. This is because we had analysed and researched
everything about Teen slasher films, and implemented the use of
real media product in terms of camera angles, sound conventions,
and mise-en-scene. From this, it enabled us to create the opening
sequence more realistic and professional, as if it was a mainstream
teen slasher film. We did this by using camera shots and specific
editing that features in the majority of teen slashers and used it
in our opening sequence. The both camera shots and editing
instantly established the different types of meaning in the
sequence, and it also help the build-up of the tension in the
sequence so that the mood of the atmosphere can change from being
all happy and joyful to more eerie and panicky in a matter of
seconds. An example of this is when there is a long shot of the
couple walking into the forest and it is a POV from the killer,
this immediately changes the atmosphere completely as the camera
starts to focus on the killer rather than the couple, which allows
the transition between the two types of moods to change
quickly.