This is my evaluation 1 question for my A2 Media coursework.

1. EVALUATION 1
IN WHAT WAYS DO YOUR MEDIA PRODUCTS USE,
DEVELOP OR CHALLENGE THE FORMS AND
CONVENTIONS OF REAL MEDIA PRODUCTS?
By Ollie Plunkett

2. INTRODUCTION
When researching the forms of short films, I discovered that it is a film which isn’t long enough to be considered a full-length feature
film, and lasts anytime less than 40 minutes.
I have created a short film which not only uses the short film form, but also the conventions of my chosen genre to identify which is
‘horror’.
‘Don’t Move’ is a horror movie short revolving around the unfortunate killings of a group of friends who were playing with an Ouija
board, which I analysed and used some of the typical conventions of horror for inspiration in constructing my own take on a classic
genre.
Screenshot of ‘In Turmoil’ during editingScreenshots from ‘Don’t Move’

3. CONVENTIONS
During my research, I found out the key elements that I had to include into my own film. This included the
use of a killer with a weapon, a victim (usually dying), an urban location, high/low angles and dark
colours. I used all of these conventions because I wanted to create a film which was iconic to the genre
and that would easily be recognisable upon first glance of watching the film.
Scene from ‘The Ring’
Scene from ‘The Shining’
Scene from ‘IT’
Scene from ‘The Exorcist’

4. This involved setting my film (In Turmoil) on the streets of Hull, because
the city is notorious for having an urban outskirts, and filming when it got
dark because the colour black connotes evil which is represented in the
death of the victim.
A Nightmare on Elm Street
Directed by: Wes Craven
Release Date: November 9th 1984
Example from In Turmoil

5. However, the victim in a horror film, even though it can be both male and female or both, it is
conventionally represented as a female such as in the films ‘Scream’ and ‘Friday the 13th’.
I didn’t have access to a lot of people for cast because I only had a low budget and it was also
much more convenient to use members from my family.
That is why I decided to go with a male victim (my brother) which is a slight development on
who the victim of a typical horror film is.
Scream
Directed by: Wes Craven
Release Date: December 18th 1996
Friday the 13th
Directed by: Sean S. Cunningham
Release Date: May 9th 1980

6. GENRE
When I was researching different genres of short films, I stumbled upon a film called ‘Bad Day’ by an artist called ‘K L’. Their film was all about someone
going about their day, but whenever their character did something considered ‘unlucky’ such as walking over a crack in the pavement or walking under a
ladder, they woke up at the same time of the same day until they found a way to stop repeating the same events. This was their take on the film
‘Groundhog Day’.
Even though this wasn’t a horror film, I liked the idea of someone repeating the same events until they found a solution to break the cycle. This is where
the idea for my short film came from because I decided to develop the narrative idea using conventions of horror which I had researched.
The protagonist in my film keeps repeating the same events until they can find a way to stop the cycle from happening. At that point, my film became
almost a ‘Psychological Horror’ rather than a straight horror which is a sub-genre of horror. The psychological part of my film becomes most apparent
during the twist when the audience find out that the protagonist was the killer the whole time, and the events that were happening to them were really
events that the killer inflicted upon another victim entirely.This is a definite example of where I have challenged the genre because the killer usually goes about their murderous ways because of a few reasons including past experiences or mental dysfunctions, but not many of them have it happen to them only to realise that they were being hunted by their own consciousness.
Groundhog Day
Directed by: Harold Ramis
Release Date: February 12th 1993
Bad Day In Turmoil

7. For the killer in my film, I wanted their identity left a mystery by having them wear a mask for the entirety of the film. This was
also my attempt at paying homage to an old classic string of horror films back in the 70’s-90’s,which was a period where you
would often find the killer earring a mask. This included villains such as ‘Jason’, ‘Mike Myers’, and ‘Leatherface’.
In modern depictions of horror, the audience knows exactly who the killer is and are rarely left guessing what their real identity is.
Again, this was my attempt at developing the conventions of a horror by having the killer’s true identity kept a secret for the
audience to guess.
When I was picking what mask my antagonists going to wear, I opted for a plain DIY mask because I wanted to reflect upon the
idea of something so simple being so terrifying, just like ‘John Carpenter’ was able to do when he directed the horror classic
‘Halloween’.
Example from ‘In Turmoil’
Mike Myers in
‘Halloween’
Leatherface in ‘Texas
Chainsaw Massacre’
Jason Voorhees in
‘Friday the 13th’

8. A lot of horror films today also have a monster which the audience can’t see stalking the prey of their victims such as in
‘Final Destination’ and ‘Paranormal Activity’. These films involve mysterious events causing unrest for the victims, or in
Final Destinations, killing them. In some cases, the antagonist appears as a demonic apparition (i.e. ghosts) who hunts
down their victims either in murderous intent, or purely to make their lives a living hell. One such film that I analysed was
by a group called ‘Bloody Cuts Films’, and in one of their videos called “Don’t Move”, they had a phantom looking
antagonist who’s role in the film was to slaughter everyone.
Originally, that was what I was going to do but came to the realisation of how difficult that was going to be to
accomplish. Instead, I decided to go plain and simple and follow the standard conventions of a horror film and use a killer
dressed in dark clothing.
Example from “Don’t Move” Example from my film

9. My brief stated that I had to also create two print products which were a
film poster and a review for a magazine article. Prior to this, I was already
familiar with a lot of horror film posters. However, what I wasn’t familiar
with was what a horror film review in a magazine looked like. This meant
that I had to research film reviews in magazines via Google and typing in a
horror magazine review. Although this seemed like an easy task to
accomplish, it became apparent that there weren’t any great examples of
a horror review in a magazine. To counteract this obstacle, I instead
researched what any film review looks like in a magazine. I was then able
to transfer my knowledge of a film review to be about my film.

10. When I was making my print products, I decided to keep things simple by using the same elements in my film review and poster because I wanted to
ensure that what I was creating was accurate. That is why my poster is mainly black since the colour black connotes darkness, and with the killer
standing in the middle of the poster, this identifies to the audience was the killer of the film is going to look like.
In a way, this breaks the traditional convention of keeping the killer hidden, but at the same time it doesn’t. In plenty of horror films such as ‘Friday
the 13th’ and ‘Halloween’, both the characters and the audience know exactly what the killer looks like from outside appearances and from past
encounters with them, but what keeps them still hidden is the fact that they wear a mask, keeping their true identity a secret. Therefore, the killer
then has the ability to hide in plain site amongst the general public whilst they seek out their next victims.
In other films such as ‘Watchmen’ (Action/Superhero film), one of the main characters called ‘Rorschach’ wears a mask so that no-one knows who he
is whilst he deals out his justice to criminals. However, he is seen at times throughout the film without his mask on, allowing him to blend into the
eyes of the public until he finds his next target to deal out justice to.
Example from ‘In Turmoil’Poster from ‘Friday the 13th‘ Poster from ‘A Nightmare on
Elm Street’
Poster from ‘Halloween’

11. My magazine review features a screenshot taken directly from my film (at the top of the article) with all
of the text written below. This is due to some of the reviews that I had researched had a large image of
the film (often a direct screenshot) with the main bulk of the article written either below the image or
to the side. Therefore, to follow the typical outline of a magazine article, I used conventions of layout &
design of a magazine. This included the use of columns, small text and a star rating.
Real product:
Amazing Spider-man 2
My Review

12. CONCLUSION
To conclude, my media products do use and develop the conventions of
real media products, but don’t necessarily challenge them. This was
because I wanted to create an accurate piece of work which stayed true to
the genre of the film that I was creating, and didn’t stray too far away
from the purpose of making the film in the first place. If I were to create
another piece of work, I would consider thinking of ways which I could
challenge conventions in the ideas that I came up with, resulting in me
creating something more innovative and less conventional.