The document discusses the evaluation of a student media project titled "The Institute". It describes how the project used and developed conventions of the psychological horror genre. It employed techniques such as keeping the antagonist's identity hidden and not showing the death of the victim. The project challenged conventions by having a female antagonist. It was influenced by the shower scene from the film Psycho. The project represented social groups in a way that developed some conventions, such as having a female victim, while challenging others such as the gender of the antagonist.

1. Evaluation ‘The Institute’ Jenny Carter

2. In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

3. Generic conventions of horror employed within our piece We used the representational colours within our piece to convey personalities and attitudes. Here the protagonist is dressed in white connoting innocence/ naivety, a technique often used in horror to present the victim. Her blonde hair also furthers this technique.

4. We developed the convention of the victim being innocent and unsuspecting- the audience can see what is about to happen but she can’t, building tension. Victim wearing a black coat when she leaves the house-again hints at her fate Antagonist remains anonymous throughout, coupled with black attire hinting at her victim’s fate and presenting the character as ominous Generic conventions of horror employed within our piece

5. Generic conventions of horror employed within our piece Death of protagonist not shown- a convention of many psychological horrors to scare the audience mentally rather than graphically

7. Conventions of title sequences within our piece Names of actors/ producers presented throughout opening sequence- a technique used in many existing films.

8. Conventions of title sequences within our piece Media institution logo and title of film

9. Conventions of horror we challenged within our piece Within our piece we challenged the traditional horror convention of a male antagonist. Although this was originally unintentional, I feel it provides and interesting twist on typical character stereotypes within the genre.

10. Influence from existing horror films One specific horror that particularly influenced our work was Psycho (1960) directed by Alfred Hitchcock. The famous ‘shower scene’ has a similar format to that of the murder scene within our piece. In both cases, the victim is unaware of the danger they are in. Soon the audience becomes aware of the antagonist although the victim remains oblivious, building tension. Then the inevitable murder takes place. Within our piece we made the decision not to show the death of the victim, whereas within Psycho the murder is more graphic. Clip of Psycho shower scene: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8VP5jEAP3K4

11. How does your media product represent particular social groups?

12. Representation of gender Within our piece, both the victim and antagonist are female. Through this depiction we are developing the convention of a female victim, presenting her as innocent and defenceless but challenging the stereotype of a male antagonist. This represents the fact that it is not only men that commit murder (although media portrayal seems to focus on men as being more malicious) and not only men that suffer from mental disorders. It makes the situation seem more realistic.

13. Representations of age All the actors used within our piece were 16 or 17. In some respects I feel this benefits the film as we were aiming the film at the 15-25 age group and the audience should hopefully be able to relate to the characters and their situations, but I think the plot would have been more believable had the psychiatric nurses been adults.

15. Protagonist and links to audience The story is told from the character Jane’s point of view. By doing this hopefully the audience will relate to her character and the situations she encounters and will empathise with her. The decision to use an ‘ordinary’ teenager also reflects the fact that the murder was random and could happen to anybody, a thought that will remain with the audience after they have witnessed the film. During the couple’s argument, Jane is portrayed as a strong, almost aggressive character- deviating away from the traditional quiet, subservient fashion in which females (and indeed victims) are presented within horror films. This further reiterates the feeling that it does not matter how strong/ forceful you are as a person, nobody is safe from the antagonist.

16. What kind of institution might distribute your media product and why?

20. Who would be the audience for your media product?

24. How did you attract/ address your audience?

28. What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing the product?

30. Problems encountered during the filming process The first problem we encountered was during our first filming session. We were not able to film in the location we had intended to for the staffroom scene, meaning we had to recreate the look of the location we had envisaged in a different room. Although originally we felt this was going to be a big problem, by working together we managed to successfully set up in the new location fairly quickly and recreated a staffroom setting that we were happy with. The ‘staffroom’ during set up and within final film

35. Examples of individual and group blog

36. Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt from in the progression to the full product?