Evaluation Question 1

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

The main genre of my film is Thriller, the film is mainly set in the present day however there is a few flashbacks throughout the film which match up to what the characters are saying, for example Luke mention the abandoned orphanage was haunted by ghost and we have a clip of ghost walk past the orphanage in the film. We used flashbacks to create a sense of mystery in the film and to help draw the audience in and make them want to carry on watching the film to find out what happened to the orphanage and why it is so important.

        Because our film is a thriller in the opening sequence we have used lots of low camera angles when film the orphanage to show that the orphanage is a very important part of the film, the low angle also helps to show that the orphanage is mysterious. In addition to this we also tilted the images of the orphanage to make the clips creepier and to make the audience feel uncomfortable when they see the orphanage. Furthermore I think that by tilting the clips it implies that the orphanage is dangerous and that you shouldn’t go there.

        By showing lots of clips of the orphanage and talking about it frequently we have helped tell what the audience what the film will be about without fully giving away the plot. I think it was important to not give away the entire plot as it might make the audience not want to carry on watching the film because they will already know what is going to happen and the film will no longer be a mystery.

        We decided to make the opening sequence non-linear, as it is important that the audience know that the film will be set in both the present as the past. We included a few flashbacks in the opening sequence so the audience will become aware that the film will be set in both the present and past. If the audience didn’t understand that some of the clips were from the past then this could be a big problem, as the rest of the film would not make much sense. To further establish the changes between the two time periods we used a cross dissolve effect between the clips, as the purpose of the cross dissolve transition is to represent a passing of time it also helped to make our film flow.

        In the title sequence we used a clip of a path that is surrounded by trees which leads somewhere but the audience don’t know where it leads to, we doubled the clip and reversed one so the clip looked even more mysteries, this clip make the audience feel very uncomfortable and the audience immediately know that the film will constantly keep you on edge. Also we also added small sequence of chopped up clips these clips help show more about the film as some of the short clips can be seen fully further on in the film. The small clips confuse the audience and make the wan to know what the clips were of, the clips can only be seen fully when its slowed down. We took this idea from the open sequence of the film seven as the use a similar technique. In addition to this on one of the clips there is an image of someone feet and there is the sound effect of a child’s laugh over the top we used this to imply that the film will be about small children although the only way you can the feet properly is if you watch the film at a very slow speed.

        When choosing the text we wanted to find one that would be bold as the previous clips are a bit confusing and you can really make out what is happening by choosing a bold font it made the title more defined and stood out on the film. The font we choose reminded us of one used in ‘American horror story asylum’, which is also a creepy TV program.

We choose to film at an old house as we thought that it looked like it could have been an old orphanage the house was abandoned and the gardens were unkempt and so it made the house seem even creepier. We al dressed in clothes that we could normally were for the present time as we wanted it to look as realistic as possible.