Question 1

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

My media product uses many conventions of real media products. The first example is the setting/location; image seven shows an exterior shot of the house in which the character Lucy is enjoying her leisure time. This is known as an establishing shot and is used in many films and TV series’  to set up the location for the audience and can be used signify a change of location, which it does in my media product. The purpose of using this establishing shot (along with some other exterior shots to show the area) is to show the audience a time lapse as the opening sequence I have created uses non-linear narrative.

Another convention that my media product conforms to is how the opening suggests the genre. Image six shows the protagonist Lucy, backing into a dark figure. This imitates classic horror conventions because the audience knows something that the character does not yet know, they have seen something which they may not even know what it is, which creates suspense. Usually if the audience cares for the character they will feel fear, and hope for the character to be okay, this is the response we are hoping to achieve by including this shot.

Image three shows how the character is introduced. By using a fast paced introduction the audience will be drawn in and confused as to what is going on. Every aspect of this introduction is designed to be seen in the cinema, the dark lighting makes it difficult to see what is going on, and all the commotion should interest the viewer and make them want to find out why she has found herself in this situation. Although this technique has been used in real media products, such as Goodfellas (1980) I think we develop it slightly as the way the narrative has been designed there is still more to be found out once we reach that point in time again, as the event has not actually happened yet.

Image four represents the story and how the opening sets it up. It follows horror conventions because something is being shown to the audience from a point of view shot, so it is as if we are discovering this occurrence as the character herself. This technique is used to make the audience feel a close relationship to the character, and create the anxiety that she would feel from seeing this.

Image five shows a very important shot about camerawork and editing. This shot emphasises the peculiarity of the book being ripped up on the bed for no apparent reason. Once the narrative reveals what has happened the meaning behind this would be clear, so to use it in the opening sequence creates an enigma that the audience’s curiosity needs to be satisfied. Editing the three images together with the sound effects and build up music is characteristic of real media products of this genre.

Costumes and props are illustrated by image eight as typical features of most media products. Using a costume which is complimentary to a girls figure can result in a wider audience. The light colours suggest innocence, while the actual pieces of clothing themselves were chosen in relation to current fashion trends. In relation to real media products, clothing is always chosen in indication of something, whether it is time period, for example the period drama North & South, or social group, for example, the dress code in Attack the Block. In relation to props, horror conventions usually show what may seem an unimportant prop in the beginning of a film, which is later revealed to be an important part of the narrative. This is what we have done, by showing Lucy reading the book, and 

being interrupted by the phone, it shows the significance of both props.

Image two demonstrates the way we have used colour correction in the editing process. Real media products may use this technique to enhance, or reduce the effect of something on screen. It is often used to change lighting for a desired effect. In our product we boosted the intensity of colour red in order to make it more symbolic of blood; a convention which transpires in many horror films.

The title and font style presented in image one challenges forms of real media products. It is very plain, the reason we went for this type of title is because it can be quite effective in some horrors. As we had a limited window so show everything we wanted, we didn’t want the titles to take away from the effect of the events on screen. Most real media products would use a font which can be associated with the theme they are portraying.

The title of my film definitely challenges conventions of real media products, because of the font used not differing from the other titles (only the font size). In terms of meaning The Noise is a short title which is clear and direct. However it can have a number of implications as to what the noise actually is. It suits a horror film because the paranormal noise used is significant throughout the opening sequence and the rest of the film.