This document discusses how the media product challenges and develops conventions of real horror films and media. It summarizes the research conducted on horror film conventions in three areas: 1) Research was conducted on popular and short horror films to understand common conventions like suspense, tension, murders, psychotic killers, isolated settings, teenage protagonists and stereotypes. 2) Mise-en-scene conventions like limited lighting, natural lighting, props like fake blood and masks, and eerie music were incorporated. 3) Poster research led to conventions like dark color schemes, credits, quotes and imagery dripping blood text being included to portray an unknown and sinister look.

1. In what way's does your media product
challenge or develop forms and conventions
of real media products?
Before conductingmyyear13 withinthe endof year12 we beganto familiarise ourselveswiththe
conventionswithinhorrorfilmsbywatchingarange of horror filmsandshort horrorfilms.Bydoing
thisI was able togain an understandingof some of the conventionswhichare usedin horrorfilms.
Whenresearchingintohorrorfilmsatthe beginningof year13 I was able to differentiate an
effectivehorrorfilmfromanamateurish one.Iresearchingintoarange of popularhorrorfilms
rangingfrom“…”, “…” and“…”. Alsolookingintoshorthorrorfilmswhichgave me anunderstanding
of whatthe typical conventionsare includedwithinthis,Ilookedat“…”, “…” and “…”, these were
similartothe filmswhichwill be creating.Iparticularlyfoundittobe effective if Ilookedatshort
horror filmswhichwere similartothe lengthtothe one whichI wascreating,being5-8 minutes.
Throughlookingatthe conventionsof these horrorfilmsitbecame familiartome that the horror
filmsneedto have suspense andtension.Theyinclude features whichinclude verynegativevibes
such as murders,psychotickillersandderangedpeople.Thiswasevidentwithinmyhorrorfilmas
the mainprotagonist isa psychotickillerstraightoutof the asylum.Withinsome of the shorthorror
filmssuchas Cynthiasuspense andtensionisparticularlycreatedbyincluding low keylightinggiving
the effectof the unknown,thisiscommoninhorror filmsastheycreate an unknownatmosphere
and wantthe audience toexpectthe unexpected.
Cast:
AnotherfeaturesIfoundwasrelevantwithinhorrorfilms,particularlyinAmericanhorrorfilmswas
that the mainprotagonistswere agroup of teenagers.Whencreatingthe filmwe decidedto
conformto thisconventionbyincludingagroupof teenagerstobe the maincast of the film, we
chose to keepthe age range fairlysuitable tothe targetaudience makingit17-18 year olds.I also
conformedtothisby makingthe 'murderer'a teenageralsotokeepconsistencywiththe cast.The
maingroup consistedof twoboysandtwo girls as thisensuredthatitwill be intriguingtoboth
audiencesmakingthe filmmuchmore appealingtoawideraudience. We chose tofollow the films
whichinclude thisfeature suchas,The Cabininthe Woods.Withinthe filmwe chose conformtothe
commonstereotypedpersonalitieswhichare seenwithinthese filmsaswe includedthe typical
bimbowhichisseenwithinmanyfilms,the heartthrob,the nerdandthe normal one.Conformingto
these stereotypesandconventionsasseenwithinhorrorfilmswouldensure ourfilmwasdeveloping
the common codespresented.
Mise En Scene
The mise enscene wasan essential factorwhichwasidentifiedwhenresearchingintothe codes,
conventionsandthemesfoundwithinhorrorfilms,one of the mainaspectsof mise enscene we
incorporatedintoourfilmwasthe props.Howeverdue tothe limitedamountof fundingwhichwas
available theywere notasprofessional aswe hadhoped,the propswhichwere includedwere fake
bloodanda machete.Ifoundthese tobe the most effectivetoincorporate asitallowedthe horror
genre to be incorporated.Howeverthe aspectof the machete beingused withinthe murderscenes
allowed ittoinclude the sub-genre whichwasserial killer. AnotherconventionwhichIfoundwas

2. apparentwhenresearchingintohorrorfilmswasthe lighting,locationandsound.Whenworkingon
the lightingformyfilmIreferredbackto the filmsIresearchedespeciallythe Exorcist,Ifound
limitedlightingtomake thisseemmuch scarier.I chose to include thisthroughoutthe filmallowing
the filmtobeginat sun setso the majorityof the filmwasfilmedatnight.Thisensuredthatthe film
was giventhe full horroreffecttoensure thatitwasclearlydefinedtobe withinthe horrorgenre.
We primarilykepttonatural lightingtoensure whichensuredthe filmfollowedthe horrorfilm
conventions.Lookingintothe conventionsof horrorfilmsalsoitbecame apparentthattheywere
primarilysetinisolatedanddesolate areas.Thisinspiredthe decisiontosetthe filminanisolated
forest,thismade the filmmuchmore apparentto the genre andallowedthe plottobe much scarier.
Whenit came to identifyingthe soundusedinhorrorfilmscommonlyeerie musicisusedtoportray
suspense andtension,withinWoodendthiswasincludedwithinthe optimumpoints of toensure
there wasfearand suspense withinthe film.Placingthe soundwasanotherfeature foundfromthe
conventionsandprovedtoworkwell withthe filmmakingitseemprofessional.
Poster
Before creatingthe posterIresearchedintothree differenthorrorposters;the Exorcist,Sinisterand
Cabininthe Woods.Fromresearchingthese postersthere were manyconventionswhichIincluded,
the Exorcistwas one of the posterswhichIchose to gainthe conventionsfrom.The Exorcistposter
was verydarkand primarilyof the colourof black,I chose to implementthisintomyworkwithinthe
backgroundas it wasprimarilyblackandwhite.Accompaniedbyblackfadingintothe image.Iwas
alsoable to take commonfeatureswhichare usedwithinall postersbeing,advertisements,credits
and quotes.Includingall of these ensuresthatthe posterwasprofessionallookingandreflectedthe
lookof an effective horrorposter.AnotherconventionwhichIfoundtobe included withinhorror
posterwasthe inclusionof alimitedcolourscheme,the SinisterandCabininthe Woodsposters
howeverincludedquiteabrightcolourscheme whichdidnotconveytothe horrorconventions
typicallyseen. Ichose to stick blackand white formatto portrayan unknownandsinisterlook.Ialso
includedredtexttosymbolisethe blood,dangerandmurderwithinthe scene. Ichose tostray from
thisconventionasthiswouldnotlinktothe overall film, makingthe posterlookunprofessional.
I thoughtit wouldbe essential tomake the name and image the mainaspectsof the poster,Iwas
able to dothis bychangingthe colourof thisto a deepredbut alsotryingto mimicthe lookof blood
drippingfromthe first,middle andendletter. UsingPhotoshoptodesignthisIwasable tocreate
effectiveeditsallowingthe codesandconventionsfoundwithinthe horrorfilmstobe included
withinmyposter. Bydoingso I wasable to ensure alinkbetweenmyhorrorfilmandthe poster.
DPS
As forthe other productsI createdI beganbyresearchingintoarange of double page spread
reviewswhichIcouldtake inspirationfrom.One conventionIfoundwasthatthe writtentextwas
separatedintocolumns,Ifoundthatthiswas an essentialtoinclude thesetoensure thatthe
productwouldhave the lookof a review.Ialsomimickedsome of the language conventionsused
withinreviews,Iusedarange of persuasive writingwhichIalsofoundtobe a popularconvention
featuredinreviews.Includingthisintriguedthe audience toreadthe review buttoalsowatch the
film.AnotherconventionIchose toconformto wasthe use of boldtitlesandimages,thisisan
essential factorof everyreviewasitintroducesthe filmtothe audience.Iincludedthisasitensured
that the DPS couldbe recognizedasa review.Todothisalso I includedafive startratingwhichwas
alsoa commonconventionof thisreview doingthisallowedthe review tocontainthe main
conventionsportrayedwithinDPSreview.

3. WhenbeginningtoconstructmyreviewIbeganto referbackto my research,bydoingthisI was
able to identifythatarange of stillswere included