Evaluation - Question 1

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

With Forms and Conventions, we decided not to stray too far from the norm of the generic Horror genre film. One example would be that in a large amount of horrors, such as Saw for example, have the main villain as some form of serial killer with mental issues, and I believe our villan, Volnus, fits this almost perfectly. As with most Hollywood horrors, people watch them to be scared. They go into said films to maybe face their fears, or just for the simple adrenaline rush of being scared to death. With this in mind, Volnus was born.

On the topic of camera angles and shots, we decided to add in a rip of the hat to one of the most well know horrors ever made, Psycho. We did this in the scene that included Volnus and Frank. At the point Frank was about to be stabbed,we used a shot that showed the shadow of the murder rather than just showing the action being carried out. Paired with the low-angle shot just before Volnus kills Frank, we convey the idea that Volnus is the more powerful character and therefore intimidating. Many films of this genre are known to use techniques like this, as it is high impact and can easily make the audience feel intimidated as well, as if they are there in the scene.
To make the film seem as realistic as possible to the viewer as well as to us ourselves, we maintained continuity throughout all of the piece. Without maintaining continuity, the film could have come off as a comedy horror, with the continuity errors being interpreted as jokes by the audience. We wanted the full impact of a horror film. We see many examples of match on action throughout the film, such as when Will answers the phone(Around 0:25). We put a large amount of work into the editing, so much so that we tried to convey feelings and the atmosphere through the editing alone at some points.  A key example would be after the main title sequence where we see Will, the main protagonist, going through his daily routine. However, the editing is fast paced, switching from one shot to another which connotes franticness of Wills routine, as we know this is caused by what happened to Frank.

I'd say for sound, we tried to stay true to what you would expect from a horror. We frequently use incidental sound throughout to further effect the atmosphere. For example, one of the most important sounds i feel was added was the ticking of the clock during the montage scene. This quiet, melodic ticking got progressively louder throughout. This forced the sense of time into the audiences mind, and further backed up the frantic nature of the scene. It conveyed the lack of time, how time was catching up with Will and he didn't have much left. We matched up the final tick on the clock with the slamming shut of the door, emphasising the importance.

Said unusual clothing

Mise-en-scene was very important in our film, and i believe we strayed far from the path of conventional slasher films. The room was relatively empty for Volnus' scene, and there were only a few boxes along with a chair and chain. Volnus however was well dressed in a waistcoat and shirt with formal trousers and shoes. Now this isn't the conventional psychopath, who would usually be dressed in ripped, bloody clothes or some shabby apparel. Either this, or a costume that is used as a disguise.