1. EVALUATION Q1
IN WHAT WAYS DOES YOUR MEDIA PRODUCT USE,
DEVELOP OR CHALLENGE FORMS AND CONVENTIONS OF
REAL MEDIA PRODUCTS?

2. • I believe our media product strongly represents the
conventions often found within the horror genre. In
evaluating the research we did in preparation for our
product, we were able to attempt to link across
genuine media products and our own. The research
revealed important criteria that helped us to create a
successful horror trailer.

3. • I feel as though our media product strongly
represents the conventions often found within the
horror genre. In evaluating the research we did in
preparation for our product, we were able to attempt
to link across genuine media products and our own.
The research revealed important criteria that helped
us to create a successful horror trailer. Our trailer idea
was developed in several sections, overall we knew
between our group that we wanted our trailer to
convey the appearance and ideas of an artistic,
independent film. This provoked us to look into
adapting a more atypical genre within horror. We
liked the idea of recreating early horror films, as we
learnt from our research that the horror genre was
becoming increasingly popular around the 60’s, which
we attempted to take concepts and ideas from in
order to stylise our trailer. We then wanted to create a
compelling yet horrifying storyline,we realised from
our analysation of articles we found that the most
frightening monster within horror films is one that is
amongst us in our society, a human being. Therefore,
we thought the the idea of malicious cannibal
housewife could be an effective horror convention.
Due to the antique theme of our trailer, in it’s use of
black and white and stylisation, I feel as though it
relates to the likes of Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho (1960)
and several other early horrors, for example Misery
(Rob Reiner 1990).

4. Billie
• Although we attempted to include recurrent horror
conventions, there are ways in which our product also
challenges them is in terms of the themes and
representations it presents. Although the idea of a
female monster is not uncommon, it is the fact that our
lead female is a cannibal. Usually we find that the female
monster in horror films have been possessed as in The
Devil inside (William Brent Bell 2012), The Possession
(Ole Bornedal 2012) and The Last Exorcism (Daniel
Stamm 2010) . However, unlike such other horrors, our
cannibal housewife in some way, puts a feminist twist on
the story in that the woman is the monster herself and
doesn’t require another being’s control for her to
become so monstrous. We were pleased with the way in
which our product and story highlighted the lack of
genuine female villains within horror stories and the
feminine point it presented us from, we didn’t feel as
though it was necessarily a good thing to create a female
monster, but we did feel it put a slightly interesting
perspective on our product as it’s not often seen.
However after learning more about Clover’s final girl
theory, we thought it was important to include some very
typical features of horror in our trailer. To do this we kept
the final girl running through our story, in order to relate
it back to common horror films. We did so by allowing
our last female character-(Billie)-to battle it out against
the ‘monster’. Again we stuck to the conventions of this
theory by giving her a unisex name because we noticed
this also appears to be a recurrent theme.

5. • Almost everything in our trailer was decided as
a group, however the were points in which
certain people would create there own ideas
that were then incorporated into the product.
The rough concept for the teaser shot was
originally my idea. We wanted to include
something incredibly cliched in our trailer in
order to maintain some reality of a regular
horror product. Because mirror shots have
somewhat become an iconic feature and are so
often used in horror films, specifically trailers,
we felt that the mirror shot was very effective
for us. I thought we should use this as our
teaser shot, i.e. when the trailer appears to be
over yet another shot is revealed after-in our
case the title sequence. However unlike many
horror films we didn’t have access to a closing
mirror cabinet which is regularly used, in this
case my idea to have ‘Wendy’ rising from
washing her hands became apparent and the
group were very satisfied with the outcome. By
including the mirror shot our trailer became
similar to others such as, ‘Mirrors’ and
‘Candyman’.

6. • The mirror shot took several attempts to get right, as as is shown
from the planning on the blog. It was extremely difficult to get
the actors to move fast enough and not look odd. We wanted
the clip to be speedy, as it was a teaser shot at the end of the
trailer and for that reason it needs to be snappy. We had some
trouble with the positing and movement of our character Billie in
the mirror, this was because we felt when she was stood still, the
lack of movement came across slightly ghostly, which is not the
impression we were trying to give off. I think, a large factor that
really helped to create that shot was the overbearing sound
effect, we included a strong build up of screechy noises into a
load echoey breath noise. We also found this was a recurrent
convention in a lot of horror trailers, particularly for the teaser
shot.
Leaning forward
Stood still

7. •
One of the toughest and most stressful parts of the trailer was including the music.
The first song played in the beginning of the trailer (In the Still of the Night-Fred Parris
and The Satins) was the easiest choice for us. This was simply because we chose it in
order to create a relevant title for our film. We wanted to make a lot of references to
the 50’s theme of our film, we did this firstly by using an original 50’s hit song playing
in the beginning of the trailer (the first pan of the kitchen). We also liked the eeriness
of the implications of that title when put in the context of a horror film, we felt it
suggested that something horrifying can happen in the night when no one else is
around. When the song first starts, we thought it would be interesting to allow it to
begin in the first pan, when in the corner of the camera you can see the radio. We
thought this would be effective as the beginning of the track is introduced as it could
be on the radio.
•
The next song was a challenge, in fact it was one of the very last features we included
in our trailer. We struggled in finding a song that was creepy and fast paced but still fit
with the 50’s theme. We went through several options until finally coming across
(Inside (this Heart of Mine)- Fats Waller).

8. During the filming of our trailer we included a shot of feet passing by from a POV
shot from under a table. I though this was quite interesting in term of the 50’s
theme. The fact we could only see the bottom of the ‘Wendy’s’ legs and feet,
could possibly relate to the cartoons at the time. Often in cartoons the audience
only sees that part of the woman.
AS IN TOM AND JERRY

9. • Overall, I think our trailer managed to use, develop and
challenge typical conventions of real horror products. We
wanted to make sure our trailer appeared similar to other
existing trailers, so we didn’t stray too far from the obvious
conventions, such as music, sound effects and jump cuts.
However, we did adapt features in order to appeal to our
market and fit with our story and themes. If our media
product was to be produced, I think it would be able to
sell, however I also understand that by creating a slightly
independent attempt at a horror film it would be a very
niche market we would be appealing to.

10. • Overall, I think our trailer managed to use, develop and
challenge typical conventions of real horror products. We
wanted to make sure our trailer appeared similar to other
existing trailers, so we didn’t stray too far from the obvious
conventions, such as music, sound effects and jump cuts.
However, we did adapt features in order to appeal to our
market and fit with our story and themes. If our media
product was to be produced, I think it would be able to
sell, however I also understand that by creating a slightly
independent attempt at a horror film it would be a very
niche market we would be appealing to.