Media Coursework Evaluation

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

2. Genre and Subgenre Conventions:
 Having relatable locations
 Flashbacks
 An orchestral score
 An every-day appearance of the characters
 Dominant social issues
 Lack of weapons
 Low key/ambient lighting

3. How did you meet these
conventions?
 We met our conventions well and I think that the genre of our
film is clear from our opening sequence. Our locations enable
our target audience to gain personal identity from the film as
they can relate to the idea of a school environment. Also the
desolate and eerie setting of the woods helps to connote the
isolation of the protagonist as a result of her situation.

4. The shot in the teenagers
bedroom also enables
personal identity for our
target audience as it is
likely to be a place that
they spend a lot of their
time.
This then enforces emotional pleasures as
the audience are likely to feel scared due
to the relatable setting of the shot.

5. How did you meet these
conventions?
 Our opening sequence
starts as a flash back in
order to show a horrific
incident from the past.
Part of the horror is that
the audience don’t know
that this flashback is
actually a result of the
protagonists disturbed
mind. Therefore we met
this convention.
I think that it works well as it emphasizes the torment of the girl. It also
demonstrates our ability as a group to show a clear link between two
disconnected shots through the use of a jump cut. This shows our
extensive technical skills as it is clear when there is a flash back and when
it is present day.

6. We did develop this convention slightly and merged the content of the
different shots together (in the shot in the woods where the
protagonist sees her dead friends). This worked well as it introduced
the enigma and clearly showed the problem that the girl was facing in
that she was seeing ghosts.

7. How did you meet these
conventions?
 We didn’t stray from the convention
of including an orchestral score as we
found that the collection of
instruments in the score would
connote the collective torments in the
protagonists head. The score that we
found fitted well to our opening
sequence due to the pace being
parallel to what was happening in the
sequence. As the tempo and volume
increase in the score, so does the
intensity of the sequence.

8. How did you meet these
conventions?
 We ensured that our characters sustained an everyday
appearance regarding their costumes as it reinforced the
idea of personal identity for the audience. This increased
the horror in our production as it has connotations of
their innocence and vulnerability; the characters had
done nothing to deserve being killed. Therefore this
makes the antagonist scarier and more threatening as it
victimized innocent teenagers.

9. We appealed to our more sophisticated, secondary audience through the
use of costumes as the children in the shot at school are wearing a smart
school uniform, and the protagonist is in a suit. By doing this, we are
connoting that the protagonist is safe and protected, contrasting with
what actually happens, as she is in danger throughout the production.
The audience would not expect this due to the costumes, so we are
providing intellectual pleasure by complicating the circumstances.

10. How did you meet these
conventions?
 It was important that we met the
convention of referencing dominant
social issues as our narrative is
anchored around the issue of mental
illness. There is an underlying
suggestion that the protagonist may be
suffering from schizophrenia or some
form of personality disorder. Although
we haven’t made this predominantly
clear, it is an option for the solution of
the enigma, which our secondary
audience are more likely to pick up on.
Due to the fact that mental health is
an increasing problem in today’s
society, particularly with our age
group, we thought that it was a
suitable topic to reference.

11. From our genre research we found
in the ‘Horror Monsters’ article
that it is important to reflect on
social changes of the time of the
production, as well as the context
of the time (as is done in
Frankenstein and various films
made post WW1). From reading
this, we decided to do a similar
thing and highlight the results that
struggles and stress can create in
teenagers in modern society.

12.  A lack of weapons was also
important as our subgenre is
psychological horror. It highlighted
the idea of a psychological torment,
rather than anything physical. The
deaths of the four characters at the
beginning are ambiguous and there
is no indication of weapons as blood
is not visible. This provides the
audience with intellectual pleasures
because there is now an enigma
which they will want to solve.
There is iconography of the subgenre in the opening sequence with the
dead teenagers and their “ghosts”, however there is almost none of the
main genre, horror. I think we could have improved here as you could
argue that the film starts to look more like a drama.
How did you meet these
conventions?

13. How did you meet these
conventions?
 Low key lighting is a typical
convention of horror films so we
included it briefly in the
bedroom shot in order to connote
the fear and stress felt by the
protagonist as she wakes from a
nightmare/flashback.
However we also used a lot of ambient
lighting in order to increase the realism of
our production. It allowed us to encourage
personal identity for the audience. The
ambient lighting created a sinister tone
because the audience could then receive the
emotional pleasure of fear, as it’s almost as
though they themselves could experience
what’s happening in the opening sequence.

14. Did you challenge any of these
conventions?
 During our research and planning stage, we were
considering challenging the convention of the line of
action/180 degree rule as it would have disorientated
the audience so they would receive a visceral pleasure
as they would feel unsettled. However after
experimenting with the shots, we found that it only
looked confusing.
• Although we didn’t challenge these
conventions, we did develop some of them
in order to suit our production (as
previously stated about the flashback
convention).

15. Form conventions:
 Production logos
 A flashback
 Credits
 Foreshadowing either the disequilibrium or the new
equilibrium
An opening sequence is meant to introduce some
background to the narrative of the film and provide the
audience with enough information to make sense, as well
as leave them with questions that can only be answered
by watching the entire film.

16. How did you meet these
conventions?
 We included both our production and distributer logos
(Studio Canal UK and Warp Films).
• As previously mentioned, we included
a flashback in our production in order
to display that there is something
tormenting our protagonist, without
clearly revealing what the threat
actually is.

17.  We included our credits in the conventional order for
our genre: Production Company, distributer, actor’s
names, casting director, writer, producer, director.
How did you meet these
conventions?
• We displayed part of the disequilibrium in our
opening sequence, foreshadowing the outline of the
narrative, giving the audience and idea as to what
the film is about.

18. Institutional Conventions:
 Independently produced
 Sophisticated narrative
 Low budget:
1. No CGI
2. No A-list actors

19. How did you meet these
conventions?
 Our production company is Warp Films, which is a well known
independent film and television production company. As we
are an independent, we do not benefit from vertical
integration. Therefore, Warp Films have a relationship with
Studio Canal UK in order to distribute their films. From our
form research we found that it is conventional for low
budget, independent films to catch the attention of overseas
distributors by taking the production to Film Festivals,
therefore we will take ‘Apparition’ to Bel Air Film Festival in
Los Angeles.

20.  We developed the idea of having
a sophisticated narrative as the
enigmatic part of the production
is aimed at our secondary
audience. The main narrative is
quite simple, but if you were to
examine the plot more
thoroughly, our secondary more
sophisticated audience would
pick up on the reference to
social issues and the connection
to mental health. This therefore
makes the narrative more
complicated as there are more
options as to who/what our
antagonist is.
How did you meet these
conventions?

21. How did you meet these
conventions?
 We strictly met the convention of producing a low budget film as
we didn’t include any A-list actors and we didn’t use any props
or include any CGI. Although cheap visual effects programmes
are now available for independents, it is still unlikely to see CGI
in independent productions. We did all of our editing was done
on Final Cut Pro X that our school provided. This software comes
at a reasonable price and enabled us to edit how we wanted.
Also, all of the equipment that we used was loaned to us by the
school. In some cases, we did use some of our own pieces of
equipment (the GoPro).

22. Technical Conventions:
 Short takes
 Long takes
 Close ups
 Line of action
 Contrapuntal sound
 Fades

23. How did you meet these
conventions?
 We included a lot of short
takes when filming the shots
of the dead teenagers in the
woods. This helped to
connote the ambiguity of
their deaths as so little is
known about how it
happened. It also connotes
how quickly their lives were
taken when they were so
young. These shots are also
close ups so we met this
convention as we felt that
the close ups connoted how
fearful the protagonist was
and how helpless the victims
were.

24.  We ensured that we
included long takes in the
production, such as when
we see the protagonist
running through the woods.
This helped connote the
isolation of the girl as she
is the only person you see
for a long time, and also
how weak she is as a result
of her fear; she can only
run from what is
tormenting her.
How did you meet these
conventions?

25. How did you meet these
conventions?
 We considered challenging the convention of the line of
action as we felt that it could have disorientated the
audience so that they gained the visceral pleasure of
feeling sick and confused. However after deliberation
we decided to stick to the convention as it made the
production look smoother and less complicated.

26.  We met the convention of including fades as we felt
that it helped to connote the lack of clarity in the
protagonists mind.
How did you meet these
conventions?

27. Did you challenge any of these
conventions?
 We didn’t meet the convention of including
contrapuntal sound simply due to the fact that it didn’t
look right with our production. The score that we found
fitted perfectly and has a sinister tone with its low pitch
and constantly building intensity.

28. Applying our theoretical research
to our production.

29. Auteur’s personal links to their
films:
 From our research we found that it
was important for the director(s) to
“impose a personal vision on their
films”. This was perfect for our
production as we had planned for the
protagonist and the four dead
teenagers to be of a similar age to
us. This enabled us to relate to any
stresses or anxieties that may be felt
by people of that age, which in many
cases can lead to mental health
issues. As a group, we are fully aware
of the dangers of mental illness and
how it is a rising issue in todays
society, primarily with girls. By
having a female protagonist suffering
with her mental state, we felt as
though we could instill some of our
knowledge into the production,
increasing our products realism.

30. As a group, we were passionate about this topic however
this slightly clouded our judgment about what creates a
horror. There is a lack of iconography from the horror
genre in our opening sequence, so I would argue that we
were too definite about portraying ideologies about
mental illness, rather than focusing on making the film a
horror.

31. “Repetition and difference”:
 Steve Neale created the theory of
repetition and difference in which he
stated that “Difference is absolutely
essential to the economy of the
genre”. He discussed conforming and
subverting the conventions of the
genre in order to create a USP. We
have in many ways conformed to the
conventions in order to keep the genre
of the film clear, however we have
subverted some conventions. A
stereotypical location for a horror film
would be somewhere abandoned to
increase the tension. However we
have included “difference” by having
the horror actually take place inside
the school, rather than just have a
school as the location for a few scenes
in the film.

32. We have also included suggestions that the antagonist could be
anything from a supernatural being, to a regular man, conforming
to conventional antagonists. However our subversion of this is that
we have not clarified who/what the antagonist is, as well as
developing the idea in order to include the dangers of mental
health problems. I think that the suggestions about the antagonist
being a physical being are clear as there is the low angle shot with
the dark figure above the water. However I don’t think that the
implications about the antagonist being a mental issue are clear
enough. The fact that the protagonist sees her dead friends was
intended to imply that she has mental health problems, but you
could argue that it simply looks like a troubled teenager struggling
to cope with the loss of her friends.

33. Comparing our production with a
similar production.
‘It Follows’ (2011)

34. Similarities:
Both opening sequences feature a female character. Stereotypically
females are considered the weaker and more vulnerable sex,
therefore they are more suitable for the horror genre when the
intention is to inflict fear.

35. There is tracking in both sequences when the girl in the shot is
running away from something. The tracking connotes that there is
something coming after the character that she is desperate to get
away from. In both cases, she is overcome by fear and is trying to
escape the thing that is chasing her.

36. Differences:
In ‘Apparition’ there is a distinct lack of dialogue which connotes the
emptiness that the protagonist feels and how separated she feels from
the world.
However in ‘It Follows’ there is quite a lot of dialogue. The character in
this production is connected to the world and is facing different issues
to the character in ‘Apparition’ therefore the dialogue connotes how she
is in touch with the people around her and part of a society, whereas our
protagonist isn’t.
In our Production ,we have included the
credits and the title of the film at the
end. ‘It Follows’ has taken a different
approach and not included any of these
things, leaving the narrative ambiguous
and open as to where it will lead.

37. In ‘Apparition’ we have included a lot of close ups and extreme close
ups in order to connote the immense fear in the characters and how
distanced they are from normality. Whilst they have portrayed the
same connotations in ‘It Follows’, they have shown it through the use
of a lot of long shots and extreme long shots. The XLS of the girl on the
beach connotes her vulnerability as she is not protected by anything. It
highlights her fear as she is scrunched up in a ball, as though she wants
to hide from something.

38. The female character in ‘It Follows’ is seen wearing very little clothing and
high heels, putting her in the male gaze. She is sexualized by the excessive
amount of skin she is showing. However in our production, you can see that
our character is visually represented as an empowered female. She is
wearing a trouser suit which is stereotypically a masculine thing to wear and
she is in control of her sexuality. She does not show any signs of a need for
attention or admiration. Despite all this, she is not necessarily empowered
as she is still being targeted and victimized by the antagonist.
Finally, ‘It Follows’ consists of a lot of ambient sound, with a non-diegetic
dissonant score in the background. As previously stated, this connotes her
connection to the society around her. However, in ‘Apparition’ we have
included a non-diegetic orchestral score throughout the sequence. This
connotes the power of the threat which is scaring the protagonist.

39. Playing with teen horror
conventions
‘It Follows’ plays with teen horror conventions by keeping the stereotypical
female character who has sex, alive. It is conventional for this character to
die in some way in teen horror movies, however in ‘It Follows’ the narrative
is clear that the female actually has to have sex in order to become safe
again. Therefore this film is made postmodern by the fact that it does not
submit to traditional ideologies about women and their sexuality.

40. We also play with teen horror conventions as our production is made
postmodern by the ambiguity of the protagonist. There is no definite about
who or what the antagonist is, rejecting the conventions of having a clear
and simplistic representation of our antagonist. The audience is therefore
left wondering, providing them with intellectual pleasure, because they will
want to solve the enigma.

41. In some ways, I would argue that our production is as successful as ‘It
Follows’ because of our representations of women, range of shot types,
use/lack of sound, and manipulation of teen horror conventions. In
‘Apparition’ we have included enough to make the audience uncomfortable
and slightly frightened, as well leaving blanks where the audience will want
to know what is happening to solve the enigma.
Similarly in ‘It Follows’ the opening sequence leaves room for many
question and the narrative is very unclear so that the audience will want to
know what is going to happen.
However, ‘It Follows’ has stuck more closely to the conventions of a horror
genre, as they have not drifted into the idea of social realism as much as
we have. As previously mentioned, our passion about including something
about mental illness clouded our judgement slightly, resulting in our
product not looking as much like a horror as ‘It Follows’.