A2 Media Horror Unit

1. In what ways does your media
product use, develop or challenge
forms and conventions of real
media products?

2. The genre of our film is Psychological horror which is a subgenre of horror, which
aims to create and expose immense discomfort based on the suppressed fears within
us as human beings. Classic Psychological horrors include Psycho (1960),The Silence
of The Lambs (1991) ,The Ring (2002). In some cases the supernatural is added to the
psychological horror to strengthen the plot. For example in Carrie (1976&2013)

3. Within our storyline we used the theory of Todrov to set the equilibrium of the horror trailer which is
conventional in psychological horrors for example moving into a new house, starting in a happy
atmosphere. This is usually accompanied by a soundtrack of a an opposite genre to the horror.
However we subverted his theory as we put a jump scare suddenly in the beginning in which is not
conventional , and interrupted the equilibrium, before the storyline has even begun , we did this on purpose
to engage our audience immediately. We also accompanied this scene by a indie soundtrack (Young blood-
The Naked and Famous) which set a calm nature in this scene and also a screaming voice over before the
jump scare.

4. The storyline of psychological horror usually goes into the emotional vulnerability of ones character
The characteristics focus on mental conflict for example:
•Paranoia
•Self Doubt
•Suspicion
We were able to create the name of our production company ( Cyclops Production) and film (Perception)
from the characteristics of a psychological horror.
Perception - The way in which something is regarded, understood, or interpreted.
The meaning Title plays on the characteristic of the mental conflict, especially within our storyline, “ Is Sydney seeing a an exaggerated
perception of those who are around her? Does she have a mental health issue or is she seeing reality? Giving this aspect into our
storyline gave the audience freedom to perceive the storyline as they desire. We used an eye to link to the word perception, and this is
the image that we continued to use through out our media texts, within our production logo, poster and magazine. The link between the
poster, magazine and film is a convention used within the film industry, it helps the audience recognise or connote what the film is about
,this can also be done with the use of symbols.

5. Within our own Horror Trailer we added scenes of a supernatural nature within our Make up which included
decaying hands and parts of faces created with latex . It was evident who the original human forms were , which were
shown at the beginning of our trailers as we introduced the equilibrium
The psychological aspect of these scenes are the fact that these “demons” are shown as ordinary people in
professional environment plays with suspicion “ Are people really who they say they are? “ Especially since within
these scenes, the same costume is used within the transition to a demon enhancing the suspicion aspect of it.
Within our feedback from the rough cuts the supernatural elements enhanced the curiosity of our audience into our
trailer.
Ordinary Human State Supernatural State

6. However by using this we had to be careful not to use too much artificial make up other wise the storyline will be
more focused into the supernatural fiction instead of psychological . The use of too much make up may
confuse the storyline to our audience, it would also take the reality out of the trailer. To challenge this, within our
rough edit we filmed a scene in which , Sydney had come home to her mother, only to find that now she was of
the supernatural, we did this by making her completely faceless, covering the face with a black hat and draping a
black scarf around the shoulders, the mother was also wearing dark clothing which enhanced the overall dark
figure effect.
We thought the faceless character would give more variety on the supernatural side as well as enhancing the
curiosity, as her mother is shown in a completely different light, it would not be expected changing the
mindset of our audience. However we decided not to use this scene as the concept and the storyline may
change, also the fact of the lighting within this scene had to be dark to create the mystery behind the faceless
demon , which made the footage have bad quality.

7. We used the original green screen for this trailer, that is the main convention to advertise the appropriateness of this
trailer as our film is meant to be an 15. We were going to use a red screen which is a and trailer which is for more of an
exposed and explicit preview of the movie, but that is aimed more for a mature audience especially within horror.
For the next scene we used warm toned lighting to set a relaxed atmosphere which enhanced the state of equilibrium;
along with the fact of the set up Along with the accompanied soundtrack (Young Blood the naked and famous)
which is of an indie genre. We got this exact soundtrack from the beginning of “Cabin in the woods (2012)” which set
the scene for the intro of the trailer.
We did this extreme close up shot of the door handle to anticipate the next
move within the trailer as previously there was a voiceover of screaming ,
especially towards are target audience.

8. We used transitions from the trailer “The Gift (2015) within our opening to
give the realistic effect of a professional trailer to our audience., We also
created a motion title in-between to go with all our titles in the trailer. We
used the ink transition, as the direction of the ink going downwards
connoted the series of events and the outcomes within the story line. We
used ink to illustrate blood within our trailer. This is also why we used a dark
filter to connote the darkness and horror within the film. The motion
transition behind text is also a convention within most horror trailers or
trailers in general. This was accompanied by a soundtrack almost in the style
of a twisted lullaby.

9. We chose to shoot this mid shot of the our two chracters arguing (The Mother –Mrs Grace Jackson and Sydney) the mother is pleading
Sydney to take her medicine and Sydney refuses. The distance between the mother and Sydney shows the mothers weakness as she cant
convince Sydney especially with the dialogue between them “No your not my mum!” as she shouts. This also follows on to the high angle
shot as the mother sits on the floor stressed, she no longer has control over Sydney. This is accompanied by a twisted lullaby.
This close up of Sydney scribbling on the wall, is a convention of Psychological horrors to show there may be something wrong with the
character, along with the obscene words that are being written such as “Die, I’m Not Crazy”.

10. We used this close up on in this trailer to show the real innocence of Sydney, as she looks up at a big building,
especially exercising the height difference between her mother and her, also showing her vulnerability as well.
We also chose a plain building to film this to give the idea of an Asylum, we also decided to film on a gloomy
day to connote Sydney's feelings.
We also chose this mid-shot from the same trailer to within ours, as this couple looks out the window, we used
this shot to establish “Mrs Chapel’s” authority over the asylum, also with the solemn expression on her face
followed with the voiceover “Welcome to the willows Sydney you’ll be safe here”. The dark clothing connotes
the darkness within “Mrs Chapel”.

11. For this extreme close up of “Mrs Chapel” slamming her hands onto the table , we made sure to shake the camera for impact and to
show Mrs Chapels authority over the class, especially with the voiceover “ Don’t trust her, I’ve heard bad things about her.” This
convention usually occurs when showing the villain in a trailer. The next shot a high angle of Sydney in the asylum, again to show
Sydney’s vulnerability as she looks so small compared to the room, this is accompanied with whispers along with the ongoing
background soundtrack of the twisted lullaby, as she bring her leg swiftly on the bed. We also made Sydney wear white to indicate
her innocence. We made the room plain and white to give it the hospital look and make it realistic.
We decided to do this shot of “Sydney” looking under the bed following the whispers of the voices she heard . This long shot indicates
her age, as children are usually afraid of the dark or what may be under the bed ,especially as she looks frantically around..

12. Within this mid shot, we had Sydney rocking backward and forth, to connote the
trauma she is going through, we shot a close up of her eyes , to show her true feelings,
the tiredness, worry and fear. We also enhanced this by putting make up under her
eyes to make her eyes look sore from crying. This scene was accompanied by the
twisted lullaby soundtrack.

13. For this low angle shot we focused on the feet as she stumbled, to enhance her trauma that
she may have faced in the asylum also the fact to suggest her exhaustion from the previous
events. For the next shot we tracked our character “Sydney” jumping down from a wall, and
followed at a low angle as she ran into the distance. As she jumps down she looks frantically
from side to side and runs at a speed this connotes the fact that she is trying to escape. We
also decided to film this scene at night to show her desperation to escape from the asylum.
For these shots we used the sound effects with a lower octave changing in dynamic with
action to enhance her act of desperation. We also chose an alleyway and a car park to show
the progression of Sydney’s journey to escape , also the abandoned surroundings connote her
isolation. This convention is usually within film when someone escapes.

14. We decided to a tracking shot for this running shot using a I phone 6S on a selfie
stick. We imitated this shot from the trailer of “The Purge Anarchy(2014)”. This was
a good shot as it showed more perspective and would also make our audience feel
as if they were part of the trailers itself as it was very realistic . However we could
not use this shot as the quality was bad as it was dark . We made Sydney run up the
road looking around a looking back frantically as if she was running from
something , this was part of our rough cut .We filmed in a residential area again to
show her progression from location to location, we also filmed at night.

15. For this jump scare we followed the conventions of the jump scare scene in the “Woman In Black 2” trailer which is placed at the end.
For this scene we followed the conventions of the dark figure, we decided to make the footage moving out of focus into focus. Our
character “Mrs Chapel” was dressed completely in black to represent the real darkness and evil hidden within her. We used latex and fake
blood to create the demon look, however we didn’t use too much in order to make her human form still evident. To add to her human
form we used a folder full of documents as she is playing a teacher. However we subverted the convention as we filmed this scene in the
daytime, this was to enhance the equilibrium that was set at the asylum which again was suddenly disrupted following Todrov’s theory.
This also follows Levi-Straus’s theory of binary opposition , as we subverted the dim dark lighting for a bright well lit hallway. We also
enhanced the look of supernatural activity but flickering the hall way lights as she walked down the hall towards the camera, as she got
to the camera and screamed we shook the camera to give the effect that “Mrs Chapel” was screaming directly at the audience especially
since our film would be in 3D also. We also used the exact same soundtrack of the jump scare in the woman in black trailer to give the
same scare in the original trailer in ours.

16. For the ending credits we decided to follow the convention to the Paranormal
Activity; The Ghost Dimension trailer. We followed these conventions as the ending
credit shows the social media (Facebook, Twitter ,Snap Chat and the website),
which would be used to advertise and share the film. Realistically this is how we
would advertise and market our film. We also used the available in 3D as it would
enhance the editing, effects, sounds and jump scares, giving a bigger impact and
effect on the audience. I used the same background as the titles and enhanced it
using Photoshop and darkened the ink in the background to link the credit to the
titles. I highlighted the main parts of the credit such as the date, and extra
information to gain more attention from the audience to it. This part of the trailer
was silent.