AS Media Evaluation Question 1

1. Narrative
Our plot involves the death of one of the main
characters. We use mise en scene, sound,
editing and cinematography to succeed with
this idea. Our plot does not entirely mirror the
storyline of any psychological horror as we
wanted to make it unique however we have
involved tense scenes and violence to ensure it
fits with our genre. We used credits in rolling
parts of the film and in the parts where there
was nothing significant occurring, ensuring the
audience were fully focused on the key events.
Credits give the audience information on the
name of the film and the characters involved.

2. Genre and Mise en Scene
I believe we have achieved our genre
successfully. We used 3 different locations to
achieve this. In our first scene we used a long
shot of a dark alleyway which suggests
loneliness, fear and danger. Many horrors such
as, American Horror Story use a long shot to
establish the scene. Most psychological horrors
such as ‘The Blair Witch Project’ and 'Women
in Black’ create a chiaroscuro effect. We tried to
enforce this idea by using low key lighting and
high contrast lighting in the tense parts of the
film.

3. Cinematography
We used a high angle shot when Luke lay dead on the
floor. This showed his vulnerability and lack of power to
fight against the ‘intruder’. We also used a medium
shot when both characters turned round to see the
lights witch off. This showed the panic and fear they
felt which would be passed onto the audience. We also
used an extreme long shot when the characters were
stood on the street and turned round to see the lights
switching off one by one. This is similar to the horror
film Annabelle. This created panic for the characters
which was passed onto the audience and created the
fear that psychological horrors are intended to do. We
also used a dolly in/zoom out when the characters
react to the loud bang. This is repeatedly used in
horror films such as ‘Paranormal Activity’ to focus on
character reaction.

4. Editing and Sound
Throughout the opening part of the film, we
used a sound bridge of non-diegetic sound
which created suspense and tension. We also
used diegetic sound such as a loud bang which
was unexpected and is intended to install fear
and panic into the audience watching. We also
used a knife slash sound in a fade to black to
keep the audience on the edge of their seats as
they have to wait to see what happens. In our
product, we used fast pace editing techniques
such as fast pace editing to portray a sense of
panic and the frantic feelings of the characters.
This is frequently used in tense parts of horror
films such as ‘The Shining’.

5. Iconography and Typography
For our titles and credits in our product, we
used bright white font which ensured they
stood out with the low key lighting used in the
film. For our title we used a large font size to fill
a large size of the frame as we used the title
during an extreme long shot in a lesser
important part of the film. We used a smaller
font size for credits as they were less
important. We also used genre indicators in our
product. The use of low key lighting, loud
bangs, dark costumes, weapons and the use of
a mirror enabled us to successfully achieve our
genre.