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

By Shannon Hulme

NarrativeWhen we were establishing our plot we took all features and conventions of the horror genre into consideration. This included aspects such as typical: lighting, sound, shots, props and colour.The storyline of our film is based around one character, called Greg, who is stuck with a job that he doesn’t enjoy. By day Greg is just a children’s entertainer down on their luck. However at night, unaware of his actions, we find that his unstable mental state makes him adapt a murderous nature as a killer clown. We established this plot by researching horror films to give us ideas, one film that was inspired us was ‘100 tears’. This film also features a killer clown who is drove to kill due to his mental state.Our title sequences show the main character, Greg, during a nightmare and we used footage of him sleeping combined with flashbacks to his dream. We used flashbacks within this section as we thought it would help the audience to understand the storyline better. We also used these flashbacks at the beginning of our film, as they are significant to our storyline because they give information on what events are going to develop further on in the plot. Our film is classed as non-linear because the storyline doesn’t flow and it isn’t continuous because of these flashback scenes.

CameraWe considered the different ways we could film our footage such as using a range of: angles, shots movements and positions. However we also tried to focus on showing the audience that we understood the codes and conventions of both an opening sequence and our genre. We use multiple high angle shot within the first two minutes of our film to convey to the audience that the genre of our film is horror. High angled shots are often used within horror films as they can convey the vulnerability of characters and this make the audience feel on edge as they will be expecting something to happen to them throughout the film. Below are examples of the low angled shots that I used:

CameraWe got the inspiration to use high angled shots from Stephen king’s IT as he uses a high angled shots to show vulnerability when he introduces a character who is about to be murdered.

We also used a low angled shot within our film to make our main character, Greg the murderer, look powerful:

CameraOur group also used multiple close up shots within the first two minutes of our film to introduce the main character Greg. We also used this shot as close up shots are generally used within horror films to show the audience how characters are feeling. Below examples of the close up shots we used:

Editing Within the first two minutes of the film we didn’t use continuity editing as we used many jump cuts between showing Greg in bed and the flashbacks that he believes to be a nightmare. We edited some shots to make them only appear for a short period of time and this made our film develop at a fast pace. We also made the shots appear on the screen for different times and the changes were out of rhythm with the music. This will make the start of the film look unnatural and this make the audience feel uncomfortable as it will conveys straight away that our film is within the horror genre. A film that we got the inspiration from was ‘Bloody Mary’ as shown below, tittle sequence had a very fast pace:

A link to the title sequence:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yXzQ65gbrM0

SoundThroughout the title sequence of the film we use stereotypical unsettling horror movie music. This is effective as it will make the audience feel nervous that something may be about to happen and it conveys to them straight away that our film is a horror film. We used other sound effects such as harsh chimes when Greg finds a body in the woods as it will draw the audience’s attention to the serious situation on the screen. After the open titles have been shown we used no sound in the background. This will have resulted in the audience being surprised to see two more very quick flashbacks that are shown once Greg is awake and this will make the audience nervous to expect other surprises which will keep them interested in watching the film. We didn’t use any further sound in the opening two minutes as we wanted the audience to focus on the conversation that Greg and Joanne had in the kitchen.

Mise-En-Scene The main costume that we used was the one that the killer clown wore:

However to make the clown look more conventional to the horror genre we wanted to make the clown look messy and scruffy so we decided to use black face paint and we ripped the outfit to create this effect and make it more realistic. Also we used fake blood on the costume to symbolize that the clown is the killer in our horror movie.

Mise-En-Scene We used multiple locations within the first two minutes of our film:

These locations were chosen as they had conventional aspects that links them with our genre. For example wood are often featured in horror film and the colour red and black that feature in the bedroom suggest danger and mystery. Further explanation of the locations can be found on our blog. We used props such as household objects when we were filming indoors as they made the scene look more believable and natural. For example when we filmed in the kitchen we had Joanne make Greg a cup of tea as they were speaking, this made the scene look realistic.

TypographyThe font that the opening titles are written in is edge and almost like a typewriter style which is effective as this style is often associated with crime such as hate/stalking messages. We used this as whilst the titles are being shown Greg is being follow by the killer clown. Actors names, editors and the film distribution company’s name will appear on the screen in write writing. We chose the white bold writing as it will contrast with the dark scenes that are taking place behind it to highlight the importance of the distribution company. The main title ‘The Entertainer’ will appear in red as this will suggest to the audience that the film features danger. The main titles will also be in larger writing to emphasise the importance of the name of our film.

Iconography During the beginning of the film visual conventions of the horror genre were featured. This includes the fake blood that was used on the victims t-shirt and the clown’s costumes which suggests that the genre is a horror since there are connotations that a murder has just taken place. We also used visual effects such as gloomy lighting which we edited onto the footage on the software final cut express. This gloomy lighting will add an uneasy atmosphere to the film and will convey that the film is going to a horror that features mystery.