In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?
There are specific conventions that define genres in film which help the audience distinguish the genre of the film. These conventions allow films to fit into genres as without realising when creating a film that is meant to be a "horror" even without watching a horror we know what is needed to make it that genre. In the Horror there are sub-genres of the genre that have more specific conventions for example "Slashers" always have a final girl that survives. In my short film I have used these conventions but also developed them and tried to challenge them as well.
For my Short film I wanted to stay very conventional to the sub-genre Slasher as I felt if I was very unconventional my target audience of teenagers wouldn't be interested in the film and become very confused as in horrors the main meaning of the film is too scare the audience and it doesn't really have a deeper meaning like other genres of film.
For the location of my film I decided to stay to the convention of the main location of a house as I liked the idea that we typically associate our houses as a safe place to be unlike the streets however horror films play on this idea that things that we think are safe aren't in horror films which to me makes it even scarier. I decided to film my short film outside and inside my house, I decided to do this after watching the opening scene of "Halloween" as the little boy kills his sister in his own house. By doing this it also plays on our childhood fears of something hiding under our bed or behind our door so while my target audience are watching my film these unpleasant memories of their childhood fears will come back into their mind therefore making the film much scarier but also it will have more of a lasting effect as after my audience have watched the film they will be left with this idea that there is something in their house which will give an uncomfortable and on edge feeling which I wanted to create with my film.
Sound is such an important factor in horror films as it builds tension and keeps the audience on the edge of their seats as we know when the music is becoming intense something is about to happen. For my music I wanted to keep it very Eerie at the beginning of the film to make a very unsettling setting but also let the audience know that something isn't right from the start of the film. Much like other horror films this allowed me to build up tension within my film and to prepare my audience for what is going to happen next. Nearing to when the kid goes upstairs to see what is taking his mum so long I decided to change the music to more eerie children's music which you typically wouldn't see in slashers like Halloween or Scream but music like this you would normally hear in the background of Psychological horrors. I decided to use creepy children music as it reminds the audience of the childhood and you typically wouldn't expect children music to be creepy much like the main idea of my film clowns come from our childhood and before the "killer clown" phase we didn't see them as scary so when people see this stuff in horror films it actually makes it much scarier than having ordinary scary music. At the end of my film I also included some happy clown music to end the film I decided to do this at the end as much like the clown film "IT" we typically think clowns are happy and nice characters which this music portrays but when played against the ending of the short film it really juxtaposes what we used to think as children and what we think now as adults.
One main convention of the sub-genre Slasher is by having a "Final girl" which is portrayed as a virgin who survives and other girls in the film get killed off due to them not being virgins anymore. This theory was introduced by Carol Clover the "final girl" in Slashers are the most masculine and stronger compared to the other girls in the film who are portrayed as feminine and vulnerable are killed off throughout the film which links back to female stereotypes of woman typically seen as "weak" however the final girl challenges these stereotypes as she is is portrayed as strong and survives at the end of the film. A horror film that does this is "Halloween" I however decided to challenge this convention as within my film there is no "final girl" or a female portrayed as feminine. I decided to do this as I felt it was very repetitive and is seen in every slasher film making it very boring and obvious for the audience, I did have the main victim as a female who at the end dies however this is due to what she had did in her past.
Another main convention of Slasher films is that it likes to sexualises the female body and us as an audience see the film through the male gaze. This is mainly done as we typically would expect horror films to be more attracted to males so by the film portraying woman in this way it will attract this audience even more. Laura Mulvey stated that horrors use long shots and titled up shots to see women as objects and men are the main characters of the film. In addition, when the killer kills off the woman it is typically done in a sexualised way making the viewer want to watch compared if it was a guy getting killed it off it is seen as less interesting. I decided to challenge this convention in my film as my target audience is with female and male so I wanted to my film to appeal to both audiences but also I think in media we are slowly moving away from sexualising woman and seeing something through the male gaze and I wanted to contribute to this movement as I believe if a product is that good you wouldn't have to sexualise something to interest your audience. I do however have my main victim as a female however she has become this victim due to the actions that she did in her past.
For the camera shots I decided to use a variety of shots including close up, extreme close up, high angles and low angles. I took a lot of inspiration from existing slasher films like Halloween and Smiling man as it helped give me ideas on how I wanted to film my film.
As you can see in image 1 I used a close up shot which slowly get closer to the clowns face which I took inspiration from Smiling Man where he is also covering his face with paint. I really liked this shot as he is staring right at the camera while covering his face in blood of the person that he had just killed which to me is very sadistic and due to him looking directly at the camera it creates a connection with the audience making them feel as if they are actually there watching this happen which is a very uncomfortable and disturbing image to have.
I decided to a similar shot as the original slasher film "Halloween" both images are close up shots however the meaning behind the shots are very similar. I decided to do a zoom in shot in image 1 as I wanted to showcase that the little clown isn't "normal" and by him looking up then showing his face smiling in a very sadistic way makes the audience think that he isn't as innocent as we thought and maybe there is something else going on. Much like image 2 this was after the little boy had just killed his sister and his masked is removed which is a shocking moment for the audience as we wouldn't expect a little boy to kill someone. Both of these clips play on the idea that we typically wouldn't expect children to be dangerous or scary which makes these clips much scarier than if it was an adult.
I also used some low angled and high angled shots in my film.
I decided to do these shots to tell the audience more about the characters.I decided to do a low angle on image 1 as it is telling the audience that the mum is weak and vulnerable which is a stereotype of woman as typically in horrors females are portrayed as vulnerable and less likely to survive. I decided to do this as it is giving more information to the audience that something bad is going to happen making this character very vulnerable. Image 2 shows a high angle shot of the little boy walking up the stairs to see where his mum went to I deiced to do this as I wanted to portray the little boy as strong and powerful which you typically wouldn't associate with children but I decided to do this as this character isn't scared of what might be in the house and he is more likely to survive compared to his mother who isn't shown as strong as him. This can be seen as a stereotype of males in horror as the are typically the ones who saves the day and are seen as much stronger than females.
For the editing of my short film I decided not to be unconventional by using lots of different techniques as I wanted my audience to enjoy the storyline of the film instead of the techniques. I took some inspiration of how halloween was edited as at the beginning there is a fade to black then text comes across the screen stating "Halloween" then it fades to black then goes to the opening scene. I decided to do this for the opening of my film to set the scene as my film starts in the past when the boy was young then I later go back to present day. I decided to keep continuity with my editing as I wanted my audience to understand what was happening as slasher is more about scaring the audience instead of a deeper meaning like other genres. This also allowed me to build up tension and have the audience focused on what was happening instead of being confused on what was happening which made jump scares or areas of high tension more scary.
Ancillary texts:
For my film poster I closely looked at the conventions of horror film posters and what lighting, setting,camera shots and colour schemes were used. I took inspiration from already existing slasher films like the "poltergeist" and "purge" as both of these posters both use close up shots of the Antagonist which is what I wanted to do for my film poster.
I wanted to use a close up for the cover of my poster as I felt this created a connection with the viewer as the antagonist has direct eye contact with the camera making the viewer feel as if they are looking directly at them as if they are their next victim which will make the viewer feel very on edge and uncomfortable. By having a close up shot it also allows the viewer to see key details of the antagonist and give more of an inside about what the narrative is about by just looking at the poster. In my poster I used a close up shot of the "killer clown" wearing a mask so that they don't give too much away about their identity but allows them to create this connection with the audience as if the "killer clown" is watching them.
For the lighting of my poster I decided to stay very conventional and keep to very dark lighting and little light around the image much like the "poltergeist" as we all know that everything seems scarier when its dark so by having an image which is very dark however some light around the antagonists face gives the idea of our nightmares and fears all come out in the dark.
For the colour scheme of my poster I kept to a house style of red, black and white. I decided to have a dark background due to this having connotations of death and we associate scary things with night time. I wanted the film title to be in bold red as this colour is associated with danger and warning to the audience of what is going to happen in the film. Finally I decided to use white for the credits of my film as I wanted them to stand out with the dark background but also it gives an idea of "hope" to the audience that the ending of the film won't be as dark as they thought.
For the mise en scene of the poster I kept to the convention of there always being a weapon on the film poster for slasher movies for example "halloween" has an image of a knife as this was the killers main weapon. In my poster I had the antagonist hold a knife however in the final product you can only see areas of the knife which I think is much scarier as you don't know for sure what he is holding compared to completely showing the knife. I also had the antagonist wear a creepy old fashioned clown mask as I felt this gave more of an unsettling effect than just showing his face as it will make the audience think who is behind the mask.
Double page spread:
For my double page spread I looked at the layout and colour scheme used in some horror film double page spreads I decided to follow the conventions of double page spreads as I wanted the viewer to easily understand the text but also be interested in the film so that they go and watch it.
I found that must double page spreads had images which were live action shots taken from the film. So I prepared in advance so while I was filming my scenes I also took images of the characters so when I included these in my double page spread it will give more of an inside of what the film is about to the viewer making them want to watch the film. I also found many double page spreads only had two/three images on the page and it wasn't over cluttered with them so I decided to use tow main images which I felt gave a good representation of what my short film is about.
I kept to a colour scheme that represented the genre as I found by researching several double page spreads that the colours used on the page represented the genre of the film. I used a black, white and red colour scheme throughout the pages. Black and Red are key colours used in horror film reviews and posters as they both represent death and danger which tells the audience what the film is about. However I used white to write my text as I wanted the text to stand out against the background so that it catches the viewers eyes but also white has connotations of hope to the viewer allowing them to think there is some hope for the characters in the short film.
I decided to include a review box which had reviews given from people on twitter (these were made up) I decided to do this as I found several double page spreads did this as it allowed viewers who haven't seen the film other peoples opinions of the film which would make them want to watch the film more as this reviews have come from real life people that are the same age as them.
For the actual text I decided to give an overview of what my short film is about and my inspirations. I decided to do this as most double page spreads did this as it allowed them to give more meaning about the film and allow those who haven't and have watched the film understand what happened more.
What have you learned from your audience feedback?
For my audience feedback I gathered this is several different ways I conducted an interview with a friend who fits into my target audience so that I could see their opinion of my short film.Another important piece of information that Kim talked about was how the film Made her feel while watching it. She talked about how by using a clown as the killer brought back her childhood memories of happy clowns and by showcasing clowns in this creepy killer way actually scared her more as she has always portrayed them in a positive a light making her fear them now as they have been shown in a different way. I wanted my audience to feel this way while watching my short film as one main thing I have learnt about horrors is that they like to take something we see as "cute" or "innocent" and completely twist this stereotype of them which in the end makes the thing much scarier and has more of a lasting effect which is what I wanted to try and do in my own work by taking clowns which as children we used to stereotypically think of them as being happy people who give out balloons and completely twist this idea by having balloons floating around the house as a warning to the child and by having the killer as a "clown" which we typically wouldn't expect makes us fear it more.
Kim stated one improvement of my film is that at the beginning there is a lack of continuity due to stating "halloween 2002" however the girl at the beginning is holding a iPhone 6 which was definitely didn't exist back then. This therefore didn't make the beginning scene very realistic as anyone will know that iPhones weren't around then. I only noticed this when I had completed filming for my film which meant I couldn't easily change the scene and not include the scene featuring the phone so I decided to leave the phone in the final product however if I was to film again I will focus on continuity as this is a key aspect into making a film realistic to the time period it is set in a by having things that didn't exist in them years makes the film un realistic but also shows a lack of care and research.
I also conducted a survey on survey monkey which included several questions and a link to watch my film. I then posted the link onto Facebook as this is a large platform which I can get several friends that fit into my target audience age group to conduct the survey and see their opinions on the film.Below is an powerpoint showcasing the results from my survey:
How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary texts?
As part of my coursework I had to create a promotion pack for my short film which consisted of a poster for my film and a double page spread. This meant I had to have continuity across every product for my film as this will allow others to more easily recognise the products are from the film making them more likely to show interest in the film and watch it in the future.
Main product and poster:
To me the film poster is the next most important thing after the production of the film this is because it allows you to advertise your film to your target audience but it also gives an insight to your audience of what the film is about and the storyline of the film. This will therefore make people want to watch the film.
There are several ways that I created continuity between my short film and film poster. My film poster features the antagonist of my film who is a key part of my short film I decided to do this after researching into horror film posters and found that most of them feature the protagonist on the front as this allows there to be a connection between the antagonist and the audience which to me creates a very uncomfortable feeling as if you are their next victim. However for my image I decided to have the antagonist wearing a old-fashioned clown mask as I didn't want to give too much away of his identity however it still relates to my film as it allows the audience to know that the main antagonist is a "killer clown".
By researching into pre-existing horror film posters I found that in Slasher film posters typically the antagonist is holding a weapon. I decided to have the clown hold a knife as this is the weapon that he used to kill his victim in my film therefore allowing the audience to have a more of an insight about what takes place in the film allowing them to decided for themselves if they want to go watch the film after finding more information about it.
I decided to keep to dark colours for the poster by using blacks and reds I decided to do this as I think this represents what happens in the film as black represents the tragic killing and Red is representing a warning sign to the audience that this isn't a "joke" which wee typically associate with clowns. If I had used bright light colours this wouldn't of represented what my film is about and give the wrong representation to my audience before they have even watched the film.
By having continuity between my poster and short film this will allow me to use synergy to advertise my product further but on a larger platform to those who have seen the poster over wise without having a poster for my film that relates to my short film the audience will be let down that what they have seen on the poster isn't the same as the film which can cause problems for example if they believed the film was about a happy clown as the poster led them to believe it was but while watching the film they find out it isn't this can cause problems as they might not like horrors causing them to be extremely terrified.
Double page spread and film:
Magazine Double page spreads allow the producer to give more of an insight about the influences and deeper meaning of the film to their target audience who may have already seen the film allowing them to understand the film more or if they haven't watched it allows them to see what the film is about and hopefully go watch the film in the future. It's very important that the double page spread relates to what the film is about as by it being in a magazine it will be seen by a large amount of people who are likely to read the article so I wanted to represent what my film is about.
For the images used these were pictures that I took during the same time of filming I decided to use these images as they give a good representation of what my short film is about. I used two images of the clown when he was young then an image of him when he is older and back for revenge. Image 1 of the kid wearing the clown costume at first glimpse looks innocent however in you look in closer detail he is holding a knife showcasing that something isnt right as you typically wouldn't see a kid holding a knife. In addition the image is in bright read suggesting its warning the audience of this kid and that he isn't as innocent as we think. This is therefore giving an insight to the viewer of what is going to happen in the film. The second image is of the clown when he is older here it is obvious he is holding a knife showcasing that he may of just killed someone and the image has a dark background therefore suggesting to the viewer that the clown has just killed someone. By using these images I have allowed the audience to know more about the film but it has also given a representation of what the film is about.
The article covers topics such as inspirations, storyline, deeper meaning of the film, characters and music. This will therefore give a good overview to the reader allowing them to understand in more depth what the film is about. The article is showcasing all of the positive aspects of the film which will therefore make the reader want to go watch the film due to them reading all of the good parts in the film.
Due to there being knife in each image this therefore helps the reader know the sub-genre of the film is a slasher helping them to understand more about what takes place in the film due to the conventions associated with a slasher.
My double page spread is very conventional to others that you would see in magazines such as "Empire" which has several film reviews featured within it which made me follow a similar format that I had seen within this popular magazine.
To conclude I think my short film, poster and double page spread all work well together to create a platform for my film. By my ancillary tasks relating to my final product it will help to the decision of my target audience wanting to go watch my film in the future as they have seen a positive article about the film and the main image through the poster. Both of these tasks however didn't give too much away about the film because if they did there would be no point of the audience going to go watch it.
How did you use media technologies in the construction and research, planning and evaluation stages?
Below is a link to a prezi I have created to present my work:
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