This is my powerpoint for Question 1

1. IN WHAT WAYS DOES YOUR MEDIA PRODUCT USE,
DEVELOP OR CHALLENGE FORMS AND CONVENTIONS OF
REAL MEDIA PRODUCTS?
BY CATHERINE FARRER

2. HORRORS & PSYCHOLOGICAL THRILLERS
 From my inspirations we can see that a horror and psychological thriller must contain death, gore or
injuries.
 The setting is an important convention of horror. Which is why I did mine in a forest in the middle of the
night.
 During editing of the film the colour of the film is usually changed so the brightness is darker and usually
there is another colour such as blue used to emphasise a ‘depressing’ feeling.
 There is usually some sort of prop/weapon that the antagonist would use to kill others. E.g Axe or Knife
 There is always a hero/protagonist that saves everyone, this character can either be male or female. In
two of my inspirations ‘As Above So Below’ and ‘Until Dawn’ it is a female character that saves everyone
whereas in ‘Blair Witch’ although she doesn’t save everyone the last character to survive but then is killed
by the monster is female. For ‘Behind You’ although we don’t see it in the trailer I would make Megan be
the protagonist.
 The movie usually develops to start as fairly scary but then near the end is the climax of a fight between
the protagonist and antagonist so is usually the scariest part of the film.

3. USE OF REAL MEDIA PRODUCTS - LIGHTING
 In 'Behind You' lighting was very important because the locations were outside during
the night. This meant I had no access to electricity and had to make my lighting seem
realistic. To be able to do this I used torches and had crew members hold them behind
the camera. I'm happy with how it came out in the end as it is not obvious that there
was multiple torches being used. The lighting was a use of real media products

4. USE OF REAL MEDIA PRODUCTS – MAKE UP & COSTUME
 Make Up was an important convention because the genre of the film is horror.
Therefore make up and costume was a use of real media products as the
blood and ripped clothes emphasises death, gore and injuries. In 'Behind You'
I used blood and mud as make up on the characters we see it later in the
trailer to emphasize the development of the horror these teenagers are going
through. The clothes also starts to become more bloodied, muddy and pulled
apart.

5. USE OF REAL MEDIA PRODUCTS – CHARACTER TYPES
 MEGAN – Protagonist
 JOHN – Teenager that gets killed at the beginning
 BETHANY – Damsel in Distress but her character develops later in the film to become more braver
 ANDY – Male character that isn’t seen as very manly but survives in the end of the film
 FOREST & MONSTERS IN FOREST – Antagonist
Megan John Bethany Andy

6. USE OF REAL MEDIA PRODUCTS – FEMALE AND MALE CHARACTER
TYPES IN HORROR
 In horror films female characters are usually the protagonist as they are seen as more weak and
vulnerable than male characters.
 Male characters are used as antagonists as they are stereotyped as more powerful and physically
stronger than women.
 Another genre convention in horror is that the female lead character develops throughout the film to
become more stronger than the antagonist. This happens in two of my inspirations called ‘Until Dawn’
(2015) and ‘As Above So Below’ (2014)

7. USE OF REAL MEDIA PRODUCTS - FOREST
 The forest is another example of stereotypical monsters.
 The forests way of causing horror is by using each character’s regrets and fears against them and forcing
them to face these fears and regrets. I got this inspiration from ‘As Above So Below’.
 Some of these fears will use monsters. For example, we see one of these monsters when a man grabs
Bethany. This man scares Bethany so much because he used to be her abusive ex boyfriend, with the
emphasis of blood on his face it makes the scene traumatic for Bethany.

8. DEVELOPMENT OF REAL MEDIA PRODUCTS - CAMERA
 I developed my use of real media products by changing the perspective of the camera.
 The camera is set as a normal film perspective of the audience watching the film but once the character
Megan says ‘Cut’ it changes the perspective of the camera so that we see the film behind the scenes and
from the character’s perspective.
 This was also done in Blair Witch (2016). This has a high impact on the audience as it makes them feel
more involved.
 To know when the perspective had changed I put a ‘recording’ filter on top of the videos.