Evaluation - Question one

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

This part of the evaluation was answered by group member Simran Takhar, she has created a contact sheet using Photoshop that features stills from our opening sequence. Embedded below is her answer to this question.

The first frame denotes the location/setting in our film. It is a slow panning shot, acting as an establishing shot. From this shot it becomes clear to viewers that the film is set in an abandoned forest, a conventional setting of the horror film. Shots like this are typical in film openings as they grab viewers attention and help to create a mood for the overall film. In this case the slow paced shot creates an eerie mood

The main character Amy, in this scene, is introduced in our second shot. Like most conventional film openings the main character(s) in the film are introduced in the opening sequence. We have used a low angle shot to introduce Amy, as she walks towards and past the camera, into the forest.

The title font is shown in the third frame. and it looks quite bold and eye catching. My group chose to use a simplistic font because in horror titles the fonts aren't usually over styled. We gave our white titles font a glow and shadow making it seem ghostly

connoting that our films narrative explores people dying. In horror films it's conventional for title fonts to reflect the story line of the whole film. For example in 'The Cabin In The Woods'  the titles font looks like dripping blood, connoting that the film has a dangerous/violent story line.

The fourth image in the contact sheet highlights how our opening sequence suggests the genre of our film. This is another conventional feature of film openings. We have made it clear that our genre is horror by using an isolated forest, creating a tense mood. Also Amy,our main character, is young and blind to the dangers around her another stereotypical feature in horror films. Furthermore, this camera angle suggests that someone is watching Amy from afar, connoting that she could be in great danger in the next few scenes of the film. 

Costume and props are denoted in this image. Amy, is denoted in the frame wearing leggings, a hooded body warmer, a black jumper and a plain white t shirt. Her whole outfit follows the stereotypical representation of teenagers, as she is wearing informal clothing. Also her hoodie is a piece of iconography associated with teenagers.

Camera work and editing is denoted in the next frame. My group have used a match on action editing technique in this part of the film. It's quite conventional for this techniques to be used in all genre films.

My group has used special effects in this frame. We put a tinted filter onto this frame, to make it seem like Amy is being looked at from another characters perspective. This is also connoted by the framing of this shot as Amy is being observed through tree branches, connoting that someone is secretly watching her. We also used a hand held filming effect in this part of the film to make it look like a point of view shot.

The story builds up as the opening sequence progresses. Amy is last seen on screen looking shocked and frightened, leaving viewers wondering what will happen next. This sets the story of the film up and suggests that someone of great danger is in Amy's town. To keep our titles conventional we decided to keep them slow paced and not have too much action in them, as this would go against typical film titles. Similar to films like 'Scream' Amy's story is building up to the main story in the film and we have tried to draw inspiration from Saw where one of the various characters in the film is killed off in the opening.   

The last image on our contact sheet is of the main title in our opening. We decided to have the main title at the end of our opening sequence as it has a dramatic entrance and leaves a cliff hanger as to how the story will further unfold in the film. It's also conventional for the title to be after the opening sequence in the film in some horror films, as seen in the video below from Scream 4. My group chose the title 'The Perpetrator' because it means "someone who commits a crime or evil". The title reflects the horror genre. It also relates to the story line in our film where a serial killer is on the lose.                                                        

The video above is related to the points made about stills 8 and 9

Overall, my groups opening sequence and titles are meant to be conventional of the horror genre.