Evaluation Task 1

Task 1 

Malevolent Phantom

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

 Out film starts off with a simple establishing shot to inform the audience as to where the location is. The effect of this shot shows the audience how isolated and lonesome the area is creating a tension straight away as secluded areas connote danger.

 This long shot suggests that the characters are insignificant compared to their surrounding  although as the characters walked closer to the camera it created a low angle shot giving these characters power, suggesting they have protection while in a group. During this shot we encounter a problem which was the shot seemed to be too lengthy creating a dreariness feel for the audience therefore we cut it down.

A lot of consideration went into the costumes for our main characters for example Chloe who played our main character wore a bright coat. We made this decision as we felt with a bright pink coat it would draw the audiences attention away from the other 2 actors (who are not important) and onto her. Our intentions were for the coat to be red to also connote danger, but we could not find a red coat therefore we settled for a bright pink one. Our group also did some research on horror genre opening titles as we didn't want them to appear as a different genre, therefore we decided on "ORATOR STD" as it is was similar to other horrors titles.The characters and location is this opening all conform to the stereotype of genre due to their being helpless and innocent teenage girls in the  middle of open space area vulnerable to danger.

This  close up shot of the our main characters face conforms to the genre as we discovered form our research and planning that close ups and extreme close ups are often used in horror films, this method of camera usage is effective as it draws the audience closer to the character. The shots before this cut between Lucy (all alone) and her friends leaving (together) and highlights clearly to the audience that she is on her own now, conforming  to the genre of having the main character alone in a secluded area. When certain scenes built up in suspense we would cut sharply by using diegetic sound to cut the tension - e.g. of a phone ringing. This keeps the audience on the edge wondering what's going to happen.

The picture above shows a long shot from 1993's classic 'Schindler's List', we considered this shot while filming our opening as we felt it looked very effective with the use of the little girls red coat as it attracts all the attention on her which was our aim for 'Lucy' and her vibrant pink coat. Both pictures symbolise innocence but still vulnerability as both these girl end up dying. This scene conforms to the genre conventions as it shows an innocent, young girl in the isolated settings of the woodlands. 

This is one of the small range of shots we have of the Malevolent Phantom as we planned to keep his identity hidden so the audience doesn't  know anything about him, therefore using their imagination and creating the fear of the unknown. The majority of shots are used to focus on Lucy as she is the main character that the audience know the most about. But in this shot attention is more directed on our Malevolent Phantom watching Lucy, in order to make it fear that our Malevolent Phantom is watching and stalking on Lucy we used an over the shoulder shot. We chose this shot over a point of view shot as its give the audience a taste of what the monster looks like, rewarding the audience for keeping their attention for so long. This creates more suspense by symbolizing how big and powerful the Malevolent Phantom is.

This medium shot blocks majority of the background therefore the audience feel on edge and there could potentially be someone or something hiding behind Lucy. This medium shot also offers a quick incite of how Lucy is feeling which through her use of facial expression is clear she is feeling scared and panicked. While this shot is happening diegetic rustling of the leaves are present this used so we could have an excuse for Lucy to pause which could have resulted in the Malevolent Phantom catching up to her. Giving the audience the uncertainty of is he going to be there? is he going to get her?

This shot demanded a lot of attention as different shots were good but then lacked effectiveness in other areas, for example using a close up would have shown Lucy's facial expressions, but cut out the Malevolent Phantom which would not be successful, also a long shot would have revealed too much setting taking attention away form the characters therefore we decided on a  medium shot as is offers a close enough shot of Lucy and her first encounter with the Malevolent Phantom. But still far enough away so the audience can clearly see the Malevolent Phantom and identify that he is close to Lucy. As soon as Lucy noticed the Malevolent Phantom non-diegetic music with a fast pace and loud volume starts as it mirrors how Lucy feels, as well as building up suspense for the audience. This build up is effective as from our audience research  we found most people enjoy and crave a chase scene. After all the suspense and quick tension the audience have experienced they are rewarded with mass excitement as a fast paced chase scene occurs, which is most likely what they anticipated from the beginning as is conforms to horror genre stereotypes.

During our editing process we changed a few things but us as a group felt this shot was the most importantly and well judged shot that we changed. This shot was originally longer, so we shortened it as it ended on mass suspense leaving the audience to decide what could have happened next making it look very dramatic. Also a problem with having the original longer shot it was hard to make the dragging back look very forceful as we didn't want to actually hurt our characters. For me and i'm sure rest of my group would strongly agree, this is my favourite shot of the whole opening as i feel it pieces together very well .