1. Evaluation
question 2
In what way does your media product use
develop or challenge forms and conventions
of existing media products?

2. We used recognisable characters: The main character is the protaganist and at the
start of the trailer it seems as though he is going to take on the role of a hero as he
takes the lead in helping find the missing girls and the cause of their death however
ends up being the villain, his wife is seen as a secondary character who is loved and
protected by him then found dead this therefore sticks to the traditional stereotype
of women being vulnerable and unable to protect themselves.
We incorporated many different shot types that are typical of the horror genre which
immediately infer something bad is about to happen for example the high angle mid shot of
Cameron walking up the stairs- we can only see his silhouette and his face is covered the rest
of the hallway is dark and shadows are cast upon the wall, as the film is a horror film this is
suggestive of the fact the next shot is going to be something the character did not want to
see/ did not expect to face.
We also took inspiration from other programmes and films we had seen previously, for
example the bath scene in which the protaganist finds his wife Sarah dead in the bathtub was
originally used in the tv programme Dexter, however we made it our own by changing the
angles and misenscene of the scene. We also paid homage to fight club (in the end scene
where we use a shaky hand held camera to film a point of view shot from Cameron and he
says ‘’everyones against me you them us’’ We thought this would be effective as it represents
the narrative from his point of view and allows us to get an insight as to what's going on in his
mind.

3. Applying Burtons Theory
In our trailer some elements of Burton’s theory can be applied for example the mis en
scene- we chose to use stark lighting and low key lighting a lot in the trailer as they cast
shadows upon much of the set and the actors faces which creates a creepy, eerie
atmosphere and creates suspense and adrenaline within the audience as it keeps them on
the edge of the seat as anything could be lurking in the shadows. In contrast the bench
scene with Cameron and his wife is shot outdoors in daylight which represents his
happiness and shows him when he was in a place without darkness. Therefore the lighting
and locations have helped us achieve the different moods and atmospheres we needed to
create in order to fit the horror genre.
The setting of our film- mainly based in the protagonists house and near the end our
outdoors in an isolated forest are used to suggest the theme of madness and insanity, as
the fact he is secluding himself in his house and the killings take place in the house show
the fact he i doing these things in a private space in which no one can intervene or
discover his true identity. This uses Burton’s theory as he suggests that horror films often
take place in a certain location- isolated, or desolate for example an old house in the
forest, or a woods miles out from the rest of town.

4. Challenge existing products
• We did not use Mulvey’s male gaze, the trailer isn't reflective of a
typical horror film that uses girls as eye candy and objects of
passive desire, the trailer is actually predominantly male
dominated and we see little female activity, instead of going with
the traditional slasher horror using all the stock characters we
decided to go for a more complex, psychologically challenging plot
that is for people who prefer intellectually challenging horror
movies.
• We didn't incorporate all the characters listed in Vladimir's Propp
theory however the story was still fitting of the horror genre and
had characters that fitted into the genre- the killer has unresolved
issues and conflicts (only with himself rather then with other
people) that result in his actions, he ends up hurting people he
loves- his wife.

5. Narrative
• In terms of narrative our trailer fits the horror genre as the plot focuses on a mans involvement
in the murders of girls in a local town; the protagonist is the good guy who is helping to find out
more about the murder but is also the false hero (propp’s theory) as he appears to be the one
who is doing the killings.
• In order to give the audience a unique insight into the protagonists thoughts/memories and
flashbacks we used objective character identification in several parts of our trailer. Firstly, when
he has his flashback of him and his wife sitting in the park, when he is being haunted in the
woods by his wife and the reversal of footage at the beginning of the trailer to show a warp in
his mind and to symbolise his process of thoughts- everything is blurred and mixed up.
• In order to articulate a sense of time as divisible and subject to manipulation we aimed to
create an anachronic modular narative therefore using flashbacks to the period before the
murders started when he was ‘happy’ with his wife and with society. For me, much of these
ideas and inspiration came from the film Memento.
• The overarching issue/theme that our trailer dealt with was mental health; we focused on the
effects of someone with mental health (although obviously exaggerated and somewhat
stereotypical for entertainment purposes) and how it can effect society and the individual
dealing with it.