Using Conventions from Real Media Texts

In what ways have your productions used or developed conventions from real media products?

In my AS production certain aspects of our opening two minutes conformed to the conventions of a Horror. Horror conventions consist of: young teenagers, male villain, low key lighting and surrounding such as woods, haunted houses and deserted streets. In our AS we tried to adhere to as many of these as possible however, due to a tight schedule it resulted to our group only being able to film during the day therefore we did not have the low key lighting. This isn’t efficient as it makes the opening two minutes much less eerie and would frighten the audience less. Low key lighting usually provides a dark and gloomy atmosphere which is key in making the audience feel afraid and tense. However, our group did conform to certain aspects such as the male villain. The reason we chose to have a male villain is because this gender is portrayed as more powerful and dangerous in society. For example in movies such as Taken and The Call. These films as well as our opening two minutes also replica the young girl victim. This is because females are portrayed as vulnerable in society therefore by having her in her school uniform, walking alone in the woods (very stereotypical) tells the audience that something bad is about to happen, creating suspense. Another convention we followed was the use of extreme close ups. This was successful as it created a clear picture to have each character was feeling, allowing the audience to feel the same emotion and relate to certain characters. This overall can have a positive effect on our opening two minutes as we want it to be as believable as possible. We also could have adhered to the conventions further by having the victim ether kidnapped/murdered as our opening two minutes was left on an enigma to whether she got away or not.

During this process Pierre Morel (the director of the three taken films) was a massive influence on our production as he was our most researched director and we shared the most similarities based on storyline and conventions, apart from his movies containing a more action approach. I liked his approach when using titles, the style of this and how this has an effect on the audience. For example, the titles were displayed in areas that would create suspense for the audience. For example, they aren’t applied in the fast paced editing as this could become a distraction but are used in the centre/end where people are more likely to remember what is said and have a clear understanding of what the movie is going to be about. As well as this the director uses many fades to black which we incorporated in our A2 trailer. We found this was very successful as it was a gradual way to change shots, allowing us to have fast paced editing, creating a dramatic effect for the audience.
Another director that was quite influential in our opening two minutes was Brad Anderson (director of The Call) which used many close ups to cut between the conversations of the characters. I found this effective as like we did in our opening two minutes it allows the audience to be able to see the emotion and facial expression of these characters. For example, in The Call trailer you can see the frightened girl who the audience feel sympathy for, and the ambulance woman who is determined to save her. This empowers the audience and shows what the film is going to be about.

I have developed these skills at A2 by changing the scenery for our trailer. For example, we used a rundown area that was deserted. This is effective as it immediately allowed an ominous atmosphere, making the audience feel uncomfortable. This is a major convention of a horror genre as like I said it provides the atmosphere affecting how the audience feel. This setting was successful as it allowed us to incorporate low key lighting. For example in the house we could dim the lights for it to adhere to a horror genre more. In our A2 production we still used a male villain and young female victim. However, in this trailer we saw the victim grow up following the prevalence of her life. Seeing her happy at such a young age allows the audience to grow a closer connection with this character therefore when she does grow into a teenager the audience feel the need to protect her. In our AS production to costume of the male villain was not effective as we both went to the location straight from school therefore it was just his school clothes. This year we thought about the costumes much more, being well equipped with black gloves and black clothing. This is effective as black connotes danger. As well as this the gloves created mystery but also made the trailer creepier by the fact he was skilled at this job.