The document discusses how the film uses and challenges horror film conventions in its opening. It conforms to conventions through using an isolated derelict location, intense music, rope and tape as props to show the character being tied up. However, it also challenges conventions by showing a warm cosy house at first, everyday props like a phone and toothbrush, and normal clothing. The film title "Delusion" and production company logo fittingly conform to horror conventions while balancing challenging conventions makes the opening successful at being both unique and clearly a horror film.

1. Question 1

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

3. Conventions of Horror Films

7. After looking at the conventions and creating a
conventions of horror films PowerPoint we have
applied this to our film for example;
• After researching common horror film
locations, it was clear that many horror
films are often set in isolated areas or
derelict buildings, therefore we decided to
use a derelict prisoner of war camp located
in Hatfield Heath.
Location conventions in our film
opening

8. From this screen shot you can see the inside of the house, from this you get the
opinion that it is a very cosy house which challenges convention as you would
not expect to see this in a horror film. We think challenging this convention
works well because the contrast with the location later on in the film gives us an
enigma code because it is quite unusual to see such a warm looking house in a
horror film.

9. This is the location of our dream sequence within our film opening, this location
is a prisoner of war camp and we felt this would be a very good location for this
as it is a very run-down, isolated area. The above shot is a pan which we have
used to establish the location as we felt this was necessary considering the rest
of the flashbacks were set inside one of the buildings.

10. These screenshots show the building in which we
were filming the majority of our dream sequence
in, from these shots we can see that the building is
very run down with the bricks in the wall sticking
out slightly rather than have a door frame and from
the image above we can see that in the background
there is a dark area, I know that this is a door and
other may realise this but we can see that the
bottom of the door is broken because of the light
coming from underneath. This location follows
horror conventions because the building is very
run-down and from this we may also assume that
the building is very cold, following the conventions
of a horror.

11. • We discovered that some film openings are made
more mysterious and the atmosphere is easily
established with horror by using music
throughout the film opening, therefore we
decided to use a soundtrack throughout our film
opening rather than speech. This was effective as
it meant that we could use sounds and this was
useful as we only had one character and there
could not be much speech. Our music is very
intense and in parts the music tempo changes or
sounds come in to fit with the events taking
place.
Music

12. At this point in our film opening, our actor screams for ‘help’, this and a heavy
breathing when the actor sits up in bed are the only sounds effects in our film
opening, these are used because they build tension and we felt that if they were not
included the music would take up the whole film opening and become boring.

13. Props
• We have used very few props in our film
opening however we did use rope and tape to
show that she is tied up and has been
prevented from screaming. This is effective
because it links into the music being played
through the opening. Our other props of her
phone and toothbrush towards the beginning
are used to show that she is carrying out
general activities.

14. This is the toothbrush prop we have used in our film opening, we have used this because it
is a very common thing to use before going to bed which suggests that everything is
completely normal. We thought this was very effective as this contrasted with the later
scenes where she is tied up.

15. Our actors phone is another prop used in our film opening, this is used because again, it is
a very normal thing for a teenager to be on their phone. We thought that this challenged
the conventions of a horror film because this is a very normal thing for a teenager to be
using and often if someone is using their phone in a horror film it is to receive a
mysterious text.

16. Rope was used as a prop for our film opening as it is a way of showing that she is tied up
and cannot escape, this also shows how she is vulnerable. This conforms to horror film
conventions because it is very common to see rope used in horror films.

17. We used tape to cover our actors mouth, this is effective as a prop because it conforms to
horror film conventions as again it is very common for an actor to be tied up or unable to
speak. Tape is used alongside the rope because if the actor was not tied up with rope she
would be able to rip the tape off.

18. Lighting
• The lighting in our film opening varies
throughout the film, sometimes it fits in the
genre conventions and sometimes it does not.
We have used lighting in some of the scenes
which does not fit into the horror genre
conventions because we felt that this would
suggest everything is normal and add to the
enigma code.

19. The lighting in this shot was very harsh, we felt this was effective because it
made her makeup look more dramatic and this along with her facial expression
suggests that this is very unusual and creates effective enigma codes.

20. Although the lighting in this shot is very dark, the small amount of light coming
from behind the model still suggests warmth and nothing unusual, this is
effective because it challenges convention's as you would not expect to see
bright warm light in a horror film.

21. The lighting in the dream sequence is very dark with a vignette round the
edges and a slight blue tinge, we have done this as we feel that it conforms
slightly more with the conventions of a horror film and it also contrasts very
well with the rest of the film as the lighting is so different.

22. Film title
• We feel that our film title is very appropriate to
our film genre, I think this because Delusion
means ‘a belief held with strong conviction
despite superior evidence to the contrary’ and
this may suggest that she is imagining all of this.
We question ourselves about whether these
events have taken place or she is imagining them
which is a very effective enigma code. The font
we have also used for our titles fits in very well
with horror conventions as we feel that it looks
broken and its well with the film.

23. This is our final film title, we chose ‘Delusion’ because we felt the definition fit
well with our story line and it follows typical conventions of horror film titles. We
also chose this font because we thought that it looked damaged and this linked
into our location being run-down.

24. Costume
• We felt that the costume of our actor
challenged conventions very well, we felt this
because in the beginning of the film opening,
our actor is wearing her dressing gown, which
is a very normal thing for a girl to be wearing
and then when she is having the dream, she is
wearing very normal clothes which again,
suggests that everything is normal until we
see that she is covered in blood.

25. We see from this screenshot that our actor is wearing her dressing gown, this
challenges conventions of horror films because usually you expect to see
something abnormal however this is a very normal thing for a teenage girl to be
wearing, especially as she is getting ready for bed and then gets into bed.

26. From these screenshot we can see that the actor is wearing very normal, every day
clothes, this challenges conventions of horror films because we do not always
associate every day clothes with being in a horror film. However our actors bra
strap is slightly off of her shoulder, this suggests that something is not normal
because we begin to wander why it is like this. She is also covered in blood and has
two blood hand prints on her legs which suggests that someone has held onto her,
this conforms with the conventions as we begin to question ourselves.

27. Production company
• We feel that the name and logo of or
production company fit very well with the
conventions of a horror film, this is because
our production company is called ‘Point
Pictures’.

28. This is our production logo, we have called it ‘Point Pictures’ and we think that this fits
with conventions because we associate the word ‘point’ with sharp objects such as knives,
this is then reinforced by the knife dropping into the ‘i’ in ‘points’. The sound effective we
have used when the knife drops also sounds like a knife falling onto something which
again fits into the conventions of a horror film.

29. Challenge or conform conventions
• With our film opening, we thought it would be
best to both conform and challenge the
conventions, we felt this would be good because
it means that our film is not identical to all other
horror films, we have done this by showing a very
normal sequence at the beginning of the film of
the girl carrying out her bed time routine
however we have conformed to conventions by
using the type of music we have used and also
with the makeup the girl is wearing for it to show
that she has been beaten up.

30. Successful?
• I think our product is very successful as a
horror film because it both fits into and
challenges conventions of a horror film. In my
opinion, it is also very clear that this is a
horror film due to the music, titles, structure
and location whereas it is also slightly
different to some horror films because we
have challenged the conventions with the
props used towards the beginning and her
costume.