media evaluation of our film Voices

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

2. • Firstly, the desaturation in colour of the clips creates a dark and
weary atmosphere for our psychological horror, this conforms to
many typical psychological horrors as often characters and the
setting around them can look normal, so other effects such as
sounds and editing can be used to create an uncomfortable
feeling.

3. • The use of shadows in horrors is often used as it is something which is
unrecognisable to an audience and so leaves them to fill in the detail of what
the shadow is. Shadows are used to build up tension as they are
unrecognisable until the object is revealed. This conforms to our film voices
where Andrew’s shadow is shown before Andrew is shown which
automatically builds up a suspense before seeing the character as the
audience don’t know who or what the shadow is.

4. Similarly, the darker figure or “shadow” of
Andrew’s is also perceived in the same way. This
shadow which follows him is in Andrew’s head
which makes him believe things and imagine
things which are not real. This is similar to the
psychological horror ‘Identity’ where the character
in this film also has another person inside of their
head. This conforms to the psychological genre as
Andrews imagination is creating things which are
not real which can build an uncomfortable felling
for an audience as it allows them to see what
Andrew sees. This is similar in the Babadook as the
Babadook is linked to the characters
consciousness's throughout the film, even though
it does end up being a physical creature. This
imagination of the Babadook makes the characters
seem like they are going mad, which is similiar to
Voices, where Andrew has a ”shadow”.

5. The use of black and white allows the audience to see Andrews perspective of the world and
also indicates that these scenes are abnormal to the “real world” scenes. This conforms to
psychological horrors as often the main character suffers from some sort of psychological
disorder and so the black and white is used to represent this other world which Andrew lives
in. Similarly in Psycho, it is argued that the film was produced in black and white as ‘it was
crucial to the complex of the narrative. By eliminating color Hitchcock uses black and white to
emphasize the contrasts of shadows and lighting. This choice subtly illustrates the symbolic
dichotomy of innocence vs. insanity within the human mind that persists throughout the film.
This split theme interlaces throughout each of the main characters’.
https://filmanalysisrobinson.wordpress.com/2013/03/14/captured-in-black-and-white-psycho-redefines-the-classic-
horror-story-by-leaving-the-viewer-in-the-dark-2/

6. Similarly to Andrew, in The Shining, the
characters mind affects his actions,
leading to consequences that affects the
victim. Often in Psychological horrors,
characters die because of their minds
misleading them to do things they would
not normally do. This is similar with the
characters in The Shining and also
Identity. Voices conforms to these two
films as Andrews mind ends up taking
control of him and leads him to
committing suicide in his made up world
but in the narrative could be a real life
incident if not helped by his psychologist.

7. • The therapist.
• Often a therapist is used in psychological
horrors as the one to find out what is going
on in the characters mind, which also helps to
inform the audience as to what conditions
the character may have and gives the
audience insights into their thoughts. This is
seen in Identity and Split, where the
psychologist has interviewed the character
who is suffering similarly to Andrew in Voices.
This conforms to many other psychological
horrors as there is often someone to trigger
and explore into these psychological issues
which can sometimes lead to more problems.