Evaluation: Question 1

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

I feel that we've successfully observed and understood the conventions of things such as continuity and editing and this is evident through our final products. Not only did we understand the importance of these technical elements within our short film but we also maintained this idea of continuity throughout our poster and radio trailer. Within our film we used editing effectively as we used a range of fast and slow paced editing. This is common within our chosen genre (horror) as it helps create an uneasy atmosphere within the audience as the pace if the editing is constantly changing. Therefore the audience aren't given the chance to feel comfortable while watching our film. This use of editing helps create a sense of intensity which is one of Richard Dyer's Utopian Solutions which features within his theory of entertainment. This constant change of pace within the film connotes that the character on screen is experiencing a large amount of fear and because of this intense emotion within the film, it provides a sense of entertainment for the audience as in the real world, it is rear for the audience to experience such a large saturation of emotion in one moment, therefore providing a form of escapism from reality. A film that uses the pace of editing in a similar way is 'Drag me to Hell' and one scene that stands out is the ending. At the beginning of the scene, it is connoted to the audience that the equilibrium within the narrative has been restored so therefore, slow paced editing is used, making sure that there is no tension in the audience whatsoever. Then, later on it proves that it was a false sense of restoration as the male character pulls out a button that is cursed and this is where there is a very obvious change in pace and this is constantly changing throughout the scene, changing from fast to slow paced editing and this makes the audience feel uneasy and this is what we did when editing our film to help make the audience feel uneasy and frightened.

Another element that we used within our film that compliments the conventions of the horror genre is the idea of an anti-climax. In every film ever made, no matter what the genre is, there is always some form of climax and in the horror genre, producers, directors and editors like to experiment with climaxes and also anti-climaxes.  An anti-climax is where there is some form of build up within a film (this is generally done using tense music or the pace of editing) and after this build up, there is an underwhelming event that ends the build up. We use an anti-climatic moment within our film as we use tense music to build up the tension and fear within the scene and this is used as the main character walks towards a door in which a figure is stood on the other side. Then as the door is opened, the figure turns out to be a pizza delivery man and the music cuts. This creates and anti-climax and creates a false sense of fear within the audience. This appears in many horror films as it stimulates the imagination of the audience, making them feel scared of something that actually isn't very scary. This helped contribute to making a successful short film from the horror genre.

Protagonist walking towards the door - Music is building
setting up for a 'climax'

Music cuts when pizza guy is revealed - anticlimactic

Another feature that we decided to use within our short film is the idea of a twist at the end. Many horror films tend to use twists to conclude their film as it can usually lead onto sequels. However, short film makers tend to use them to make the audience think about what could possibly happen next, stimulating their imaginations once again. We decided to use this as we thought it would be effective to not reveal what is ultimately causing the knocking. Within our film, we make the audience think that the knocking that is being heard throughout the film is being caused by the pizza delivery guy. However at the end of the film, after the pizza guy leaves, the knocking is heard once again and the films ends. This creates a sense of mystery as the audience perception is changed. This use of narrative is used in the previous clip from the film 'Drag me to Hell' as the audience believe that the main character has finally been freed from the curse but then it turns out that the cursed button has never left her, which ultimately leads to the protagonist being 'dragged to hell'. 

After using all of these elements that usually appear in horror films, I feel that we have created a very tense and gripping short film. We maintained continuity throughout and we've used iconic conventions of narrative and editing as well as mise-en-scene such as a night time setting and a single character on her own throughout the majority of the film.