Question 1

In what way does your media products use, develop or

challenge forms and conventions of real media products?
Film
Every horror films location and setting such as an abandoned house, a forest or a
street are all linked to one key thing people are afraid of, which is isolation. In
most horror films the characters are in an environment where no-one can get to
them and no-one can help them. This is convention of horror was implemented
into my horror film as the school the main characters enter is completely and
entirely abandoned so the audience feels like they are in an isolated area, the
door they come through to get into the school building closes making them feel
even more alone as there is no way out of the school and no way to get to other
people. The characters also split up and go their separate ways, this often
happens in horror films as it plays into the fear of being alone that horror films
tend to use to scare the audience. Also, if a character is alone, the audiences
themselves feel alone especially if they are invested in the film they are
watching, as they establish a connection with the characters onscreen. Another
convention is to make the setting very dark, by using low key lighting directors
can make the area the characters are in feel even more alone. We used low key
lighting by turning off a certain amount of lights in each room and then in the
editing process we changed the brightness settings so the film looks even darker.
The reason we used low key lighting and made each room dark is because when
people watch the film their ability to see everything in the room is obstructed
and they cant fully see what may jump out and scare them, people are afraid of
the dark and reason for this is because they cant see what is in the darkness.
We used this convention in order to highlight and use this common fear to
frighten the audience.
A convention of horror films is that the main antagonist has a signature weapon
that he or she uses constantly to kill the other characters in the film. We followed
this convention by giving the possessed character Tom a knife to use and he
uses this to kill almost all the characters in the film for example the charter Elvin
was stabbed with the knife in Last Out and Tamara was killed at the very end
with the knife Tom uses. We gave him the knife as it is an item commonly found
and seen in everyday life so the familiarity of the item and use of it will more
than likely give some of the audience the shivers. The doors closing behind the
characters trapping them inside is also a convention of horror films especially a
paranormal horror film, which is the same genre as our film. The doors trapping
the characters inside addresses the common complaint of horror movies which is
why dont they just go outside and leave? and makes the setting feel more
isolated. The doors also close behind Tom when he is on his own is about to be
possessed, this was done to let the audience know that this is a paranormal
horror film and to give them a jump scare as inanimate objects moving on their
own is usually the sign of a supernatural being such as a ghost, spirit or demon.

The characters in our film were built from the conventions of horror films that we
researched. An example of this is the overactive emotional young girl which is
Tamara and Chloe in this film, we see this straight from the beginning as they
start arguing the minute the camera focuses on them, we added these two
character for ever so slight humour at the beginning of the movie and to use the
stereotypes used in horror movies. The next character is the victim, this is a
character you feel sorry for so it gives the film some emotion, in Last Out this
character is Tom as he quickly possessed by the demon and is then forced to
attack and murder his friends. Finally, there is the character that dies first, this is
a character that doesnt entirely know what is going on or what he or she is
doing so the audience knows that they are going to die first which in our case is
Elvin. Elvin is shown to be quite carefree and at the point of his death is the only
character to not see/realise something is completely right. These characters
were used to follow the conventions of horror films, give the audience characters
they are somewhat familiar with so it feels like they are watching a horror film
and so we make it clear that this film is a paranormal horror film.
The story also progresses based on the conventions of a horror, first everything
is fine then everything goes horribly wrong for example when the film first starts
there is are no problems, the characters are simply walking and talking and then
they get trapped in the school and things get progressively worse as it goes on
as they argue and split up then tom gets possessed and then people start dying.
This was done yet again to replicate the film of a horror film but was done as this
is the traditional template for any story.
The conventional camera movements used in horror films were also used. In a lot
of horror films establishing shots are used in order to show the audience the area
in which the character are in and where the villain is hiding, I have used the in
the first scene were we see the main characters walk into the school. This shot
shows the characters but also establishes the school as the audience can se the
entirety of the school building.
Using sound for jumpscare scenes was a horror convention we followed. Most
horror films have a loud noise to accompany something unexpected coming out
to scare the audience, sometimes the noise itself is what I scary during these
scenes so we added them in to make each jumpscare scene more impactful. An
example of this would be when Tom appears behind the door when Tamara is
trying to run out of the bathroom. Sound is also commonly used to build up
tension when something is about to happen, we did this for Chloes scene when
she is walking around and eventually dies. The reason why we sued it and why
other films use it too is so the audience knows something is going to happen but
doesnt know what, the sense of uncertainty helps to keep the audience on the
edge of their seat waiting to see what happens.
The lighting of the film was mostly low key to follow the conventions of a horror
film however we had to adapt this for the beginning as the first beginning scenes
have standard/ high key lighting as we wanted to emphasise the fact that the
film is getting darker and darker as it goes along and the best way to do this is to
start out light and we represented that light through high key lighting.
The main development was the setting of the movie. Usually, a horror film will
have its setting in an abandoned area that looks very old or damaged but with

our setting the school looks like a school that has been untouched by age also
we filmed in the school's newest building. The reason we did this is because of
the target audience which is teenagers, more specifically students. Because our
target audience is students we decided to do the horror film in a familiar setting,
that way they can imagine themselves in the situation that these characters are
in making the film scarier also since the main characters are students as well
they can better relate to them as characters and their environment. We kept all
the poster on the wall and equipment in camera view so the school would feel
real, however, a convention of horror films is to have the building look old and
damaged but the audience will be able to relate better if the school is in normal
condition hence why we didnt use the older buildings.
The characters themselves use conventions of horror films as mentioned but
these conventions often make the characters extremely unlikeable so the
audience cant build any connection to them so when they die the audience
doesnt feel anything except maybe relief as they dont need to watch a certain
character anymore. We added a bit of humor during the beginning of the film so
the audience can connect with the characters also the characters speak standard
English instead of large amounts of slang so they dont come across unintelligent
delinquents. Even though the characters argue at the beginning we added a bit
of concern and caring into the script as when Chloe and Elvin are alone talking
they express concern for the others as they are on their own in the school and in
Tamaras last scene she expresses concern for Tom when she first sees him and
even asks where Chloe is before she is about to die.
We definitely used a signature weapon in the film (the knife) however horror
films usually use something much more intimidating such as a butchers knife, a
chainsaw or even a sword but there is no way Tom would be able to get one of
those items while trapped inside the school plus we are filming in an actual
school so more intimidating weapons would be impossible.
We had to adapt the conventional handheld camera which is usually used for
point of view shots for characters, especially for the villain as he or she sneaks
up behind someone. We did use the handheld camera technique but to was to
show the uncertain and confused state of mind Chloe has when she is walking
around.
A convention broken is the use of blood. Blood is almost always used in horror
films even if its just spread on the wall or small bits of it on the villains face to
indicate they have killed someone. We didnt use any blood within Last Out
because we felt that the death scenes were already dramatic and scary enough
without thronging needless amounts of blood everywhere. Simply cutting to
black and having a loud sound effect to scare the audience was good enough
and would be more effective because its something that isnt done very often in
horror films, horror films now tend not to do as well because the same
conventions and clichs are recycled over and over gain in addition to this so
many horror films are made in year that some people in the audience may not
enjoy seeing the same thing again with a lower budget/no budget. When we did
the premiere night and saw the audiences reactions first hand they were
intimidated and scared whenever somebody died so I would say that this was
effective and served its purpose just as well if not better than using fake blood.

A common convention of paranormal horror films is to have a large amount

unnatural things happen. While we do have a few paranormal events such as
doors closing on their own and Tom being possessed but there are not as many
as a conventional paranormal horror film would have for example the horror
movie [paranormal activity has tables moving on their own, lights turning off and
on, things dropping for no reason were as our contains a lot of suspense, chases
and death scenes. This is probably the reason why people in the audience during
premiere could not recognise the film as a paranormal horror but instead said it
was a suspense horror film.
Another convention we brock was romance, usually with horror films that contain
teenagers there is a romance between two characters however we didnt add
one in simply because there was no time for that kind of subplot. When writing
the script, we felt romance would add almost nothing to the film, it would waste
time since this is a short film, it would be very awkward for our actors and the
audience probably dont want to see that in a horror movie. The audience didnt
seem to mind since when we asked them how they felt watching the film most
people said scared and excited so the audience were entertained without the
romance.

Poster
A convention I have definitely followed is having the main image that has
meaning behind it. The knife in the image represents the villains perspective
and goal and the faces of the main characters show his targets and who he
wants dead or possessed by it, however, there is room for interpretation here, to
someone who hasnt seen the movie this could be showing all the characters and
the knife could indicate that one of them is the murderer which wouldnt be
entirely wrong. Most horror movie poster have this such as the Final destination
poster which has a skull looking into a Brocken mirror which lets the audience
theories about what this could mean and what this movie could potentially be
about thereby peaking their interest in the film. I did this for the same reason, to
get people interested in the film by leaving them with an ambiguous image.
The next convention followed was the use of dark colours. The colours used in
my horror poster are grey, black and red, with the occasional white piece of text.
These colours are very common in horror posters as they show the audience
what kind of movie this is going to be because most of those colours have a
sinister connotation to them for example red has connotations of danger and
harm and black has a connotation of evil and mystery. These colours need to let
the audience know that this film is a horror film and will have dark elements in it,
dark colours are just one of the ways to convey this message hence why they
were used.
Each horror poster and film has a line or phrase that it is remembered for and
that line or phrase is usually placed on the horror poster. I implemented this into
y poster by typing Demons Hide in Darkness on the poster. While showing the
film to my classmates I saw that the line they remembered the most was
demons hide in darkness which is also the last line said in the film so since I
knew this line was effective I placed into the poster, also, the line is ambiguous
like the image, it makes the audience ask questions and think about what the
poster overall could mean thereby getting them even more interested in the film.

Titles in horror posters are always in a serif font as the sharp and curved edges
signify danger, violence, and sometimes even brutality, these are all words that
you want to be linked to your horror film so I changed my font style for the title
to Lucida bright which is a serif font. The font felt more like it belonged in horror
poster than any other and I need the audience to see that this is a horror film
and because one of the first things people look at when looking at a poster is the
title I needed the title to feel like the title for a horror film which uses serif fonts
so I used a serif font. The title also needs to be memorable as it is the title of the
film and people cant see a film they dont remember the name of.
The next convention followed was the release date being placed at the bottom of
the poster. People need to know when the film comes out so they can make a
mental or even a physical note of it so they know when to expect the film. The
release date being placed at the bottom of page was necessary as that is where
people will be expecting the release date as it is most commonly located at the
bottom of the poster in a different colour to other text on the page, hence why
the release date is white on the poster in addition to this white makes the text
stand out since it is on a back background.
Another convention followed was using an image for the main image that isnt a
screenshot from the film but something that represents the film. Posters such as
Final Destination, Scream and sinister all use images that represent the film as a
whole instead of something from the film, this could because they wish to keep
everything within the movie a secret and tell the audience as little as possible,
which is the reason I used my image or it could be because the films have been
given so much money to work with it would seem lazy to just use a screenshot
from the film instead of an image the represents an aspect of the film such as
the villain.

One convention I adopted for the sake of my poster was the amount of character
shown in the poster. Usually horror posters show one character which is the
protagonist or more commonly the antagonist however in my poster everyone is
shown, this is because I wanted an ambiguous main image that makes the
audience think about what they are seeing gone the poster and to do my image I
needed the face of all the main characters so the audience would ask questions
and seek the answers by watching the film for themselves. If had shown one
character the effect would still be there but it would make who the villain of the
film is very obvious and when the viewer watches the film they will know who will
become the villain as soon as that person comes on screen, which in a way
would make the poster a spoiler for the film which is not acceptable for any
movie poster.
The placement of the names and phrases was also adapted for my poster, the
most common place to put these elements is at the top of the page but in must
poster they are at the bottom of the page. The reason I placed them at the
bottom is because there simply isnt enough room for them at the top especially
with the long knife going through the middle of the poster in fact if I had put
them up at the top they would have been squashed and would have drawn
attention away from the title which is a more important element of the poster
since people need to know exactly what the film is called in order to see it. They

are still on the poster which follows the conventions of a horror film poster but
they just arent in the usual spot and I would say since here isnt much else at
the bottom these elements now have room to breathe and people can focus on
the them when they are looking at the poster making for a more effective layout
and structure for the poster even if it doesnt 100% follow the convention.
Horror poster often has longer quotes from critics or tweets from fans to help
convince the reader that the film is worth seeing however with my poster I just
have the review scores from a variety of newspapers and critics. I feel that the
star-based ratings speak a thousand words plus I have one-word quotes from
some of the critical responses to the film. When these quotes are used they often
fill up a large portion of the poster and that would ruin the effectiveness of my
poster since there would be too much on the page and that wont look attractive
to the audience so they may not bother to look at the poster in depth thereby
effecting the purpose of the poster which is to inform and persuade.
In my poster, the title is interrupted by the knife going through the middle so one
word last is on the right and the other is on the left out with the knife in the
middle of the towards. The title of the film is not meant to be interrupted by
other elements of the poster as the title needs to be viewed as the most
important part of the poster by the viewer however because of the knife splitting
the title the audience is immediately drawn to the image. This along with the
simplicity of the title weaken the effectiveness of the title but people are
naturally drawn towards the title of a movie poster now so when they have
looked at the image they will look at the title as well so not much of the posters
overall effectiveness is affected by this especially since feedback I have received
from both teachers and students leave no mention of this.
Another convention broken is showing the villain in the poster. Usually, the main
image of the horror poster shows the villain in it such a Freddy Krueger in a
nightmare on Elm Street. My poster shows every character except the villain for
two reasons, reason one is because the villain doesnt actually have a physical
form and therefore cant be put into the poster because it cant be seen by the
viewer even when watching the film. The second reason the villain is not feared
on the film or at least Tom being possessed is because it felt very much like a
spoiler to show the possessed version of tom as the audience shouldnt know
about this going into the movie and be surprised when the see tom possessed by
the demon so for the sake of not ruining the viewing experience I did not
implement an image of an evil spirit or the possessed Tom into the poster.

Double Page Spread

A convention followed for the double page spread was the fact that relevant
screenshots of the film were used in the review so whenever a certain actor was
talked about an image would be around to help support what was being said this
can be seen with the image of Ninas character Tamara when she is being
discussed in the review. These images ae used to back up the points made by
the critic and to show the audience what the film is like through static images
and screenshots taken straight from the movie.

Another convention followed is the drop which is almost always used during a
double page spread review. The drop cap shows the reader exactly where the
review starts and where to start reading as depending on the reviews structure
this can be difficult to decipher. Page numbers were also added so people can
know what page they are on and easily friend the review by looking at the
numbers shown on the contents page, this also in every magazine to help the
reader navigate through the magazine's contents and pages.
A star-based rating system was used as it is tradition to use that system to rate a
movie also allows the reader to clearly see what the critic thinks of the film
overall in case they dont have time to go through the entire review. The starbased rating system is placed at the end of the review and below the
conclusion/summary paragraph to show my final opinion of the film as a whole.
The star-based rating system is almost used for review especially in magazines if
it were an internet site then percentages and numbers may have been used as
an alternative but stars are what people are used to in magazine review.
Another convention that I needed to follow was the inclusion of critical language
so the reader takes my opinions and thoughts of the film seriously and so I sound
like I know what Im talking about. This includes using a formal register, using
film terminology such as CGI and mise en scene and analysing every aspect of
the film such editing, scripting, camera work, and sound. If a critic doesnt sound
like they know what they are talking about then people will lose interest in the
review and will just turn to the next page so I order to keep my audience
interested and to show them my opinion is well thought out I needed to use
critical language.
On many double page spread reviews, there is a small section of one page
dedicated to showing some of the other film releases, I adapted this to what the
viewer might enjoy if they enjoyed this movie. I think showing the movies that
people will enjoy if they enjoy this one is useful to people who have and havent
seen the movie, if someone has seen the movie and they like it they now have
movies that similar to it and that they will enjoy and if the audience hasnt seen
it and has seen one of the recommendation then they will know whether or not
they will like this movie. It is much more information and beneficial to the
audience than showing them what films will be coming out soon as they will
most likely know about them as marketing for those movies will have long since
started and there can be another page that discusses these movies in more
depth.
The border around the title was also a developed convention as with movie
reviews there usually the same form of a border around the title of the film such
as a line or two around it but I placed a large red background around it and
changed the text to white to it would stand out. I did this to emphasise the title
of the movie so people immediately know what movie is being talked about on
these pages as the placement of the title in magazine movie review can be very
different depending on the type of magazine.
Another development was the addition of a summary section, this section shows
the director's name, the cast, the editor and the sound mixer. Usually if there is
something like this at the side it shows general information such release date
and runs time but not who was involved and there was no evidence of something

like my summary section in my research so I added it in so people could see who

is in the film in case here is someone in their they are a fan of and to give credit
to who worked on the film. In addition to this, I mention a lot of the names of the
people who worked on the film in the actual review so this summary helps the
reader get to know who did what when creating the film.
A constant convention of a double page spread reviews in that there are no
empty gaps between the columns of text however In my review, the last column
there is an empty white gap and then the text continues underneath the image
which is just beneath that white gap. I did this because I wanted the conclusion
to be on its own and act as a summary which is also very common in double
page spread reviews. The gap isnt glaring however it does look unprofessional
as many other double page spread reviews would find a way around this by
maybe placing in an image to fill in the gap or writing an extra sentence.
Another convention broke is not either using a large image that takes up one
page or using a large amount of images scattered around the page. The reason I
refrained from using many more images is because they wouldnt be relevant to
what I was talking about and they would just be there to fill space and not really
back up the points I making the film. While this doesnt hinder the effectiveness
of my double page spread it could have filled white space to make the double
page look a little bit more professional.