Media Evaluation Q1

1. Media Evaluation
Question 1:
‘In what ways does your media product, use
develop or challenge forms and conventions of
real media products?’
Dan Clark

2. Form of Product
Our media product was conventional of the Horror genre in several different
ways:
• Our titles were conventional, placing the crew/cast members in a
conventional order, also regarding typography, we used a font that is
generally be associated with the Horror genre
• The plot of the opening was conventional of a horror opening too, featuring a
character who is placed in a hazardous situation by an antagonist that they
are killed by, establishing the antagonists exposition for the rest of the film
• One way that our short wasn’t conventional was the fact that the
protagonists in the opening are not the same as the protagonists in the film
as they die at the end of the opening

3. Character
• Our product featured 3 main characters, two teenage boys and a little girl
• Little Girl: A stock-character of the supernatural sub-genre, the little girl was
highly conventional due to the supernatural/ disconcerting connotations given off
by a little girl in this situation. Her actions in the short support this, for example
walking through the field barefoot.
• Teenage Boys: The teenage boys in the clips body language was conventional
throughout, showing their fear of the protagonist. Featuring relatable characters,
for example teenage boys in ordinary clothing is also conventional in itself as it
helps the audience relate to the characters/ creates a sense of verisimilitude
• Teenagers are also very conventional protagonists throughout the horror genre,
for example ‘Friday the 13th’ (Cunningham, 1980)

4. Plot
• The plot of the opening is conventional as it features a
circular narrative, including an equilibrum(the two
teenagers walking through the woods), a disruption (the
little girl walking), a recognition of the disruption/ an
attempt at restoration (the boys seeing the girl and
running) and finally an outcome (the boys dying)

5. Mise-en-scene
Costume:
• Girls dress: Conventional of Horror/ Supernatural sub-genre- connotes
innocence/ anchors little girl stock character
• We took inspiration for her costume from a variety of different films within
the genre e.g The Ring (Verbinski, 2002) and ‘The Grudge’ (Shimizu, 2004)
• Boys ordinary clothing: Conventional of Horror- ordinary, casual
clothing creates a sense of verisimilitude and helps the audience relate
to the characters
Location: Woods/Forest
• Very conventional of Horror/supernatural- Woods is generally
assosciated with danger/ fear of the unknown

6. Sound
• The sound used in the short included a mix of both diegetic and non-diegetic
sound
• The sound mix (particularly the volume control) made the diegetic sound
particularly conventional as we enhanced the tension building sounds, for
example footsteps
• The score used is conventional in the fact that it builds up tension
throughout the short
• The sound effects used were conventional as they both anchored the action
on the screen an enhanced the horror element of the short, for example the
white noise effect every time the girl is visible (Warning Loud:)

7. Camera/ Editing
Camera:
• The camera was conventional of the horror genre as we used a variety of shots to
build up tension and establish the shorts mood, for example close ups to
represent the characters reaction to the events (e.g the ECU of the widening eye
when the teens first see the girl)
• One way that editing was very conventional of the genre was the way that the
cutting rate increased as the tension in the short increased, at the beginning
during the equilibrium stage of the product the cutting rate is fairly slow,
anchoring the characters normal/calm feelings compared to the fast cutting rate
when the teens are running away
• The colour/visual effects that we edited into the footage were also conventional
as we colour graded the footage to look darker, adding a dark blue effect over the
footage, as well as this we lowered the brightness on all of the footage
• We also used continuity editing throughout our product to ensure that the
narrative flowed throughout and to make the plotline more effective