The document discusses how the opening of the student's horror film follows conventions of the genre through elements like young main characters, isolated setting, low-key lighting, non-diegetic soundtrack, and close-ups. It also describes how the student researched techniques used in films like The Shining and The Departed to understand different genres. While the characters and plot generally conform to horror tropes, the film challenges some norms by having a female antagonist and representing social groups in non-traditional ways. The student aims to distribute the independent, low-budget film through arthouse cinemas.

1. In what ways does your product use, develop or challenge
forms and conventions of real media products?
Our film opening followed many
conventions of a horror film in some
aspects such as the young,
conventional main characters - the
arguing couple, low-key lighting, non-
diagetic soundtrack, extreme close
ups, isolated location. All of these
aspects add up to create an enigma
and create suspense
•When researching ideas for our media product I looked into a variety of film forms and
styles.
•Through watching and analysing film openings ‘Catch Me if You Can’ (Spielberg, 2002) and
‘The Shining’ (Kubrick, 1980), I got more of an understanding and techniques used in
particular genres.
•I looked at the generic conventions of horror and thriller in the trailers ‘Texas Chainsaw
Massacre’ (Luessenhop, 2013) and The Departed (Scorsese, 2006). From this we settled
on working within a horror genre and further at a selection of horror films.
Shots that stood
out and I liked
from a range of
horror films

2.  The plot and location of
our opening is very
conventional of horror
openings with isolated
areas, abandoned
buildings and in
woods. We noticed that
wooded areas were used to
enclose locations in
horrors, creating a sense of
it being cut off from the
outside.

3.  The character exposition was reasonably
conventional as it is usually young people as
the main characters in horror like in the
films ‘Cabin in the Woods’ and the ‘Scream’
films where the plot revolves around young
leading characters.
•Arguing teen couples is also a
common premise for the plot opening.
This is seen in films such as ‘I Know
What You Did Last Summer’
• We used costume to make
a clear connection between
the characters and show
their age with the characters
wearing similar style clothing
to each other.

4.  The diagetic forest and bird sounds
show the isolation during shots
building up to the action, creating
an enigma and tension. It also
made the setting very clear and
helped to maintain a sense of
continuity and
The non-diagetic soundtrack is low-pitched
ambient music which is very conventional of
horror and tension-building.
We also used diagetic heavy-breathing in
scenes using a handi-cam such as in the first
shot of the building as it connotes that
there is another presence which creates an
uneasiness
The music soundtrack is intercut by heart-
beat like ‘boom’ sounds between changes in
action. There is also a non-diagetic buzz
noise added in over particular shots acting
as a break in sequence as the opening cuts to
a separate sequent of events.

5. In the shots inside, we used low key
lighting to create shadows which would
obscure the view of the antagonist to
make her appear more mysterious. We
were inspired by a shot in a tunnel in’
‘Let Me In’ where the shadows and
lighting were shot in a film noir style.
Framed shots create a sense of the
characters being watched as it shows the
location of the character and makes it
seem like a point of view. This is
emphasised by the diegetic breathing
sound.
Close ups and extreme close ups of the
antagonist is conventional as the whole
character is not revealed but certain
aspects are which connotes uncertainty
and mystery.

6. We used extreme close-ups of the antagonists hand in some
shots revealing detail and the moving shots reveals more and
more slowly as is pans across the board. This idea came from
the opening of ‘se7en’ which also only reveals the hands of
characters.

7. Our film has two white females and one
male character, the couple are young people
and the antagonist represents older social
group.
Question 2
How does your media product represent particular social groups?
There is not a large variety in social groups
as there are very few characters and these
characters are most relatable for the
intended audience.
The other character challenges the norms as
there are rarely female antagonists in horror
films. While planning and filming we
intended for the character to appear fairly
young however in feedback we were told
that the character appeared witchy and older
than the other characters. While the gender
is unconventional, there is not a typical age
but in our audience research we found that
young girls and old women were popular
amongst the recipients of the survey.

8. The teenage characters are not represented
in a way that could be viewed particularly
positively or negatively as they are presented
fairly neutrally.
Neither of those characters prepresents a
lead protagonist however the focus seems to
be on the male character as He is in the
foreground of most shots and the camera
follows his action
The characters break the conventional
gender roles in some aspects in that the
male character does not represent the usual
masculine qualities often represented in
media but seems overpowered by the female
character who is represented as a bossy and
controlling figure in their relationship

9. The female characters challenge the
ideologies often represented in horror
films. It is often the female character
who is seen as the victim and are often
seen as ‘vulnerable’ and ‘passive’ but
the lead female character challenges
this ideology being bossy and
controlling and she is not representing
the victim in our opening.
She could be seen as weak and slightly
passive as she runs away at the end to
avoid danger however she could also be
viewed as sensible as she is the
surviving character.

10. The antagonist in our opening also
challenges gender roles within
horror as she is represented as the
powerful, murderous and violent
character who has brought about
the deaths of many people. She
does not conform to any gender
roles. In parts of the opening the audience is
positioned from the antagonists POV with
the use of high angled shots which create a
sense of the antagonist looking down at the
characters from a position of power.
There were also shots with objects in the
foreground creating a visceral affect for the
audience to seem like the antagonist is
watching from a hiding place.
Handy-cam shots watching the other
characters also show her as a secretive
character hiding rather than being powerful
enough to be seen in the open.

11. The male character could be
viewed as the braver of the two
characters and puts himself in
danger at her request. However
he is also represented as the
victim which challenges
conventions and gender
ideologies.
Non-verbal language between
the couple shows her as being
controlling/bossy in the
relationship.
We decided to represent the
characters this was to create
tension and an uncomfortable
atmosphere from the dialogue ,
body language and expression.

12. We used the production company logo for
‘Hammer’ in our opening as it is a
independent British production company.
They are well known for producing a number
of popular horror films such as ‘Dracula’ and
‘Frankenstein’ and more recently ‘The Woman
in Black’ and ‘Let me in’.
What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and
why?
Our film would be most suitably distributed
in independent arthouse cinemas as it is an
independent, low budget film .
Our opening was filmed in small
locations without need to close
any areas with a small cast and a
niche target audience so we
decided it would be appropriate
to distribute our film
independently
We filmed digitally so would be
most easily digitally distributed.