The document discusses conventions of supernatural horror films and how the media product challenges or develops these conventions. Specifically, it discusses how the plot follows a conventional haunted house storyline. It also explores how elements like costumes, props, lighting, sound, editing, and camerawork both challenge conventions and adhere to them. For example, it uses more blood than typical but doesn't use common props like dolls or toys. It represents the main characters as young white females and does not include male or minority characters. The representations of the female characters both challenge and reinforce ideologies about gender.

1. Question 1
In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and
conventions of real media products?
Laurel Parfitt 9241

2. Conventional supernatural horror plots:
 A family or person moves into a house where the previous residence have been murdered by something else
living there. E.g. Amityville Horrors (Andrew Douglas, 2005)
 Something has happened to a person and a spirit posses/haunts them. E.g. Drag Me to Hell (Sam Raimi, 2009)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gGj4nyOSqbw
 A character is one the audience is led into believing are safe but suddenly they actually become evil. E.g.
Paranormal Activity (Oran Peli, 2007) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T-5mhG-94SU
 The discovery of the spirits past: this involves the protagonist exploring their house and finding clues that further
inform them of the life the spirit once had, why they are being haunted and what they can do to solve it.
Plot
The plot we followed in ours is the first one, the house
that Hannah lives in is cursed and every time someone
moves in their, they get possessed by the spirit after
finding the music box. However, in the full movie the
spirits past is discovered by the protagonist- Bridget,
which is also conventional of supernatural horror.
The spirit is possessing the
girl in both ‘drag me to hell’
and our piece

3. Mise-en-scene
Costumes
It is conventional in supernatural horror to have simplicity and everyday clothing. So
therefore we dressed Hannah in jeans and a white top and nothing revealing. Her makeup
was natural, and the colours she wore were neutral, blending into the background of the
piece.
Props
Supernatural horror has less blood than other horror sub genres, for example Slasher
horror. However we have opposed this convention, and instead used a lot of blood in the
opening. Also, everyday objects, framed family photos, dolls, toys and rocking chairs are
also very conventional props in supernatural horror however we didn‟t use any of these.
Instead, we created our own props, which were paper cranes. This was the unique aspect of
our horror opening, the iconography is depicted by the paper cranes because they
symbolise all the people that this spirit had possessed and killed.
Lighting
In supernatural horror, candles are often used to create lighting because they give a
flickering effect, however we didn‟t use candles but we did have a few shots where the
lights were flickering as Hannah entered the room. Also, we used a large lamp to create lots
of sharp shadows and silhouettes which portrayed darkness. The low key lighting of our
piece connotes darkness and the outside shots are unsettling because of the gloom.
Location
Supernatural horror are conventionally set in the home of the protagonist because it allows
the audience to relate, and scare themselves even when the film has finished. Therefore, we
did just this and set the opening in the home of Hannah which is later to be the home of
Bridget. Other conventional supernatural horror locations are churches, relating to Christ
and also woodland areas, where the spirit is seen lurking behind trees in the darkness.

4. Mise-en-scene DECONSTRUCT A
FRAMEWhite top- her clothing is
simple, but a effective
The blood challenges the
conventions of Supernatural
horror
The lighting has created a
dull effect which has created
lots shadows
Her collar bone and boney
hands imply she is not herself

5. Sound
We used non-diegetic sound, such as fast pace orchestral
music to build up the tension, when the title appears we
used the sound of violins as it writes across the screen.
Conventional supernatural sounds we didn‟t
include were creaking of doors and
floorboards. We also said in our plan that we
were going to use asynchronous sounds of
whispering, as if the spirits were whispering,
like in Poltergeist (Tobe Hooper, 1982)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9eZgEKjYJ
qA (0.36) however we didn‟t end up using this
idea, although it would have created another
dimension to our sound.
We also had the sounds of a music box to bring back
childhood memories and create a spooky atmosphere, this
is called contrapuntal sound (sound that doesn‟t match the
scene). It is used to create a juxtaposition of sound and
image, the sweet sound (of the music box doesn‟t match the
horror of the spirit but instead creates an enigma).
It is conventional to have recurring sounds that
the audience associate with the antagonist and
protagonist. We used a loud noise whenever
the antagonist appeared, which repeated a few
times to scare the audience and make them
jump.

6. Editing
At the start we used long takes and few cuts to
create tension. When the action sped up the cutting
rate also sped up, creating a fast rhythmic pace.
This meant we had to keep continuity perfect.
We had to be careful to keep continuity
perfect, and this was very difficult with all
our props, like the cranes. A key example
of perfect continuity was when Hannah
put the book down on the bed, the shot
showed her placing it down.
We used Aftereffects to darken the eyes of
Hannah and make her feel soulless, and we
also used colour grading to lower the
brightness. This all added a dark aspect to our
opening creating a feeling of fear in the
audience.

7. Colour/ Typography
Colour
In supernatural horror it is typical to have a colour wash over
the clips, therefore we used an effect on all our work and took
out some of the brighter colours to reinforce the dull
atmosphere.
To make it our own, we used AfterEffects to blacken out
Hannah‟s eyes which portrayed her as being possessed.
Typography
The text in supernatural horror is often red to connote blood
and death, so we used a dark brown red which implies just this.
Also our title is very bold and obvious, to allow the audience to
see the name and understand what the opening and film is
going to be about.
The title is written by itself, reinforcing the idea of the
supernatural.

8. Title order
1
2
4
3
8
7
6
5
We ordered the titles, with the distributor
first followed by the actors, then the
producers, the film editor and finally the
director because the director is seen as
the most important.
Finally we had the title of the film come
up „Possessed‟ across the screen and the
opening continued.
We put the tile in the middle of the
opening so that it didn‟t look like a trailer.

9. Camera
Birds eye shots for the establishing shot are quite often
used in supernatural horror, however we challenged
this convention by having an establishing shot placing
you with the character Hannah in her home, so she was
more relatable. Also handheld camera shots are quite
often used, which we used in the shots when Hannah
saw the spirit twice in the room suddenly. Shaky camera
work is sometimes used to show the fear of the
characters, however we kept most of our shots quite
still so that when the cutting rate sped up, it would build
tension.
One of our shots was inspired by Donnie
Darko (Richard Kelly, 2001). The shot when
he gets out of the bus and it turns from the
side to straight. The shot creates a sense of
unease and make the viewers feel on edge,
that was the aim with this shot.

10. Question 2
How does your media product represent particular social groups?

11. Social Groups
Characters
 Hannah is a young, white, American, middle class girl, which could be seen as stereotypical as she is
vulnerable, and weak and ends up killing herself.
 The spirit is a women which isn‟t stereotypical, because she is the killer and possessor – this was inspired by
The Women in Black (James Watkins, 2012), as the spirits past experiences have led her to become this evil
creature.
 The main protagonist of the film, Bridget, is a young, white, British, middle-class girl who destroys the
possessor by the end of the film. This shows determination and a clearer picture of real life.
All the characters are white middle class, teenagers,
this is because it‟s aimed at young adult market,
who are more attracted to own age group.
There are no black, ethnic, minority groups and no
males in our opening.
If we made the rest of the film, males would appear
but we have no males as main characters. This
reflects the film as non-patriarchal because males
aren‟t dominant.

12. Representations
 Hannah is represented negatively because she is
easily led to be possessed, she shows no bravery or
ability to fight for herself, this therefore reinforces
the residual ideology that women are weak. In The
Blair Witch Project (Eduardo Sánchez and Daniel
Myrick 1999) the lead character is a women who
ends up being taken by the witch, and throughout
the film becomes weaker and weaker.
 The ghost is represented negatively because she is a
killer, but at the same time she is a women and has the
ability to be strong and powerful which isn‟t stereotypical.
This is a regressive ideology because there is a strong
female in the lead. If all the women in our opening died
then the film wouldn‟t survive in this modern day.
 However the main protagonist from the rest of the film
beats the evil spirit. The binary opposition challenged the
residual ideology that women are weak. A male doesn‟t
have to come and save the day, Bridget fights for herself
portraying a strong woman.
For example, in The Shining (Stanley Kubrick, 1980) the
lead women get‟s away from her mad husband with her
little boy, and she shows herself as independent.

13. Construction
Mise-en-scene
 The tear that falls from her cheek connotes her
vulnerability by non-verbal language
Sound
 When the music box is heard, it immediately brings the
audience back to a childhood noise, which could
compare her to a child or compare her actions to those
of a child because she is unable to control herself and
easily led.
 Throughout the opening the girl doesn‟t say a single
word which reinforces the residual ideology that women
are „seen and not heard‟ again like a child. The only time
we hear her make noise is when she is chocking which
implies she is vulnerable.
Camera
 The extreme close-up shots we created show her
emotion and the fact she‟s being so possessed by this
monster
Editing
 The black eyes we edited on Aftereffects show that she
is possessed easily and therefore is a weak character.

14. Construction
The blackened out eyes
portray Hannah is possessed
The shot is a close-up
showing that she is
completely under the control
of this spirit

15. Question 6
What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this
product?

16. Online tools
The Internet (Google)- I used Google to search ideas, for example
conventions of the genre and also other title sequences, overall it
was there to help me do research.
We live in the modern world with we media/ web 2.0, meaning that it
gives audiences the ability to interact with media content. “We”
implies that the Internet is a participatory media, so it allows us to
personalise content, including media content. That‟s why the
internet would help us promote our film opening to audiences.
Survey Monkey- this allowed us to create a
survey and question people on our ideas, then
we got feedback for our final piece.
This is an example of one of the
questions we asked in our survey
about our idea for the horror
opening. It can be seen that the
question ‘on a scale, how does our
narrative make you feel?’ got a
positive response, with 8/10 being
the most popular choice.

17. Prezi- I used Prezi to present ideas for our concept
development, this meant I could visualize our finial project
and develop our ideas. I made a mood board full of
inspiration and pictures, these are some of the key films we
were inspired by:
Online tools
The Possession
(Ole Bornedal,
2012), we took
the idea of the
box which
possessed the
girl.
The Shining (Stanley
Kubrick, 1980) the
concept of the women
defending herself from
evil forces, as Bridget will
in the rest of our film.
Insidious (James Wann,
2011) with the spirit of a
women haunting.
The Women in Black (James
Watkins, 2012) the spirit of the
lady getting revenge for the
nasty things that have
happened to her in the past
Carrie (Kimberly
Peirce, 2013)
with a strong
lead girl, who
goes through
problems
Poltergeist
(Tobe
Hooper,1982)
we were
inspired by the
sound effects.
Sinister (Scott
DeeHooper,1982) we
took the makeup idea-
with dark eyes and a
white pale face.
Amityville Horror
(Andrew Douglas,
2005) we took the
idea of having blank
eyes, as if there is no
soul behind them and
used it on Hannah
because she was
possessed

18. YouTube- We exported our finished production onto YouTube so we
could market it through various forms of media such as social
networking. I personally used YouTube to research title sequences to
analyze and also shots that inspired me from films to use in our
opening piece.
Online tools
Once I had posted it on
Facebook, the views shot up
to this many meaning that I
had marketed it through my
friends.
Facebook- YouTube enabled
me to post our horror opening
on Facebook so that my
friends could view it, and
some of them shared it so
their friends could view it.

19. Filming our work
When filming our work we used
 Alex‟s canon 60D camera for all the
shots because it creates clear shots
that were perfect for our piece and
we could easily adjust brightness and
contrast
 A tripod to keep the shots as safe
and still as possible

20. The issues with the camera
 We had to use lots of lighting, like
large lights to brighten our set so that
the shots weren‟t grainy. It meant we
could always edit the shots and make
them darker afterwards, to create a
spooky effect.
 Also we had to board up one of the
windows in the garage, so that the
camera couldn‟t be seen in the shots.
Issues with lighting
 The only problem we faced with lighting
was keeping the continuity perfect, this
meant we had to keep checking the shots
so that the lighting didn‟t differ too much.
Filming our work

21. Aspects of editing
This here is the paint pallet that we
used to to change the colour of the
font to a red-brown to connote horror
and blood.
This is where we
changed the font,
we choose
‘suicide draft’
which we
downloaded from
a website, it is
long and slanted
and gives a
spooky effect to
our piece.
We placed the
text around the
sides so that
the action
wasn’t missed
Font and Text

22. Aspects of editing
Colour Grading
This is a key shot
where the colour
grading has been
used to create a
dark shot which is
very effective in
our piece, it
creates a sense of
suspense because
Hannah is walking
through the dark
towards her fate.
The contrast and brightness was
also pulled down a little bit,
portraying the conventions of
dark, scary horror movies
We pulled the
saturation down
a lot to remove
some of the
colour, and
create a dull
effect

23. Aspects of editing
Sound editing
- diegetic = cutting
of the throat and
chocking
-jump sound when
the spirit appeared
We added sound
to create tension:
- non-diegetic
background
ambient sound
was constant all
the way through
- the music box
In this shot where Hannah is shown slicing
her neck, a sound effect was used for the
slice. This was used to create verisimilitude,
as if she had actually sliced her neck