2. The title of the film uses conventions of real
media products as it gives a brief insight to what
is expected in the upcoming film. "Don't Stop"
suggests the genre of horror and that a chase is
involved in the film, perhaps between a killer
and victim.
3. The setting and location of the film opening
followed the conventions of real media
products. Set in a woodland area, it is a familiar
hunting ground for Hollywood killers starring in
horror films such as "TheWrongTurn".
Woodland gives a lot of cover whilst the killer
stalks their victim and is very isolated, making it
the perfect location to commit a murder.
4. The costumes and props used in our film opening did follow
the conventions of a real media production of the horror
genre.The costume used for the killers victim consisted of a
plain whiteT-shirt which contrasted greatly against the red of
the blood, however the killers wore much darker clothing with
hoods to maintain a sense of mystery.The hood minimized
the amount that the audience could see the killers face,
taking away their identity and demonizing them.The key
props that we used included were a knife and syringe, the
knife follows the conventions of the sub-genre that we chose
which is a slasher.The syringe was used to pump fake blood
through a tube, the victim pushed the syringe once the killers
started stabbing him.This gave the illusion that the stabbing
was more violent as the blood spread across victimsT-shirt.
5. The camerawork and editing of our film opening does have
some elements that follow the conventions of real products
produced by the media. Camera shots showing the isolation
of the victim are common in most horror films, however we
chose to place a camera on a branch of a tree as it follows the
victim to give us a good high angle shot of the victim walking
through. Giving us a high angle pan, we tried to use a more
creative approach when filming this shot to make the film
appear smoother and overall more entertaining. Instead of
having a simple high angle shot like we originally planned, we
decided that the high angle pan of the victim would look
more appealing to the audience and in fact further highlight
the isolation of the victim.
6. The title font and style used on the title of our
film opening does follow the conventions found
in real media productions of the horror genre.
The font and colour of the film title further give
the idea of a horror film, rough edges and a
vibrant red which highly contrasts against the
black background. MakingThe tittle appear to
emerge from the darkness of the background,
as a killer would from the shadows to claim their
victim.
7. The victim (Joel) receives a text on his phone from his "friend" telling
him to come to the woods, the text is in fact an attempt to lure the
victim to a more secluded location.The killer sent the text to the
victim via the phone of the victim's friend to persuade the victim as
they'd be more likely to follow their friend's request over a random
text, this also masks the identity of the killer. The faith of the victim's
friend remains a mystery to the audience however, perhaps details
would be given later on into the film. Getting the audience to draw
their own conclusions is key to getting them to interact with the film,
they may draw creative conclusions such as the killer has killed the
victims friend and has now taken their phone and is going through
their contact list picking out the killers' next victim to send a text to.
The story's opening opens up a number of plots that can be explored.
8. The genre of film we are making is a horror, the
sub-genre being a "Slasher".This is illustrated in the
film opening through the use of the killer's weapon,
a knife.This choice of weapon is common
throughout the slasher sub-genre, being used in
famous blockbusters such as "Scream". Becoming
an icon of slasher horror films, we believed a bladed
weapon (knife) would be the most appropriate as
we would be following the conventions of real
media productions.
9. The victim is introduced when they enter the
woods to meet their "friend", as they walk
through the woods the two killers are
introduced.They begin to follow the victim,
however maintaining a distance in order to not
be detected.This uses conventions of real media
products as Horror films often introduce the
victims first then the killer, before the victim and
killer encounter one another.
10. We originally planned to deter away from overly
using special effects as we believed authenticity
was key to creating a chilling mood. However we
did tend to add some effects such as a shot form
the victim's point of view, in which they look
straight up toward the sky.We added a slight filter
but then afterward decided it was not appropriate
to the mood we were trying to create.We tried to
challenge the conventions of horror films that, in
our view, overly use special effects to the point they
become generic.
