In what way does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?
Using Conventions
1. Use of pictures to create an unsettling atmosphere: Pictures are used in horror films to represent different things in ours we used the photo of Emily to represent a false sense of happiness with the character, this was contradictory to reality as the character is in fact dead. We later used the picture to convey despair and the transition of the character from innocent to soulless represented the eyes in the picture scratched out. This method is common place in the horror genre as seen The Woman in Black(2012) where the family has there eyes scratched out. We used the method of pictures portraying a false happy reality to create a creepy atmosphere in our previous media product, our opening title sequence Delirium(2014) and both of these methods were used in Oculus(2014).
2. Use of Yurei as antagonist: A couple of year ago the use of the Yurei would of been more originally but the concept has been made well known with films like The Ring(2002) and The Grudge(2004). However the idea of the Yurei is old not only in Japanese folklore but also in movies as the concepts that make up the yurei have been used many times before, the main concept being that the Yurei is a young child (in most cases a young girl) this symbolising innocence. Also the white robe that is worn by the character also symbolising innocence, the most obvious example of a Yurei like character is the girl from The Exorcist(1973) although she does not act like a yurei, that being she is not silent she does fit the profile of a yurei in age and much of the appearance, mainly the white robe.
3. Use of kitchen knife as murder weapon: The use of Kitchen Knife in horror has become a Cliché which is mostly commonly associated with the Halloween(1978) Franchise as the weapon of Michael the deranged protagonist. Even though we only used it briefly in our trailer and it was not the weapon of choice for our main killer we did use it as a weapon of murder.
4. Imagery of innocence used to portray antagonist: Use of innocences to portray our antagonist by representing it as a little girl this is using a convention as it has been used many times before in films like The Ring(2002), The Exorcist (1973) and Halloween(1978) mainly in the intro. We also used the clothing of the yurei which was a white gown to represent innocence, this was also used in The Ring(2002) and The exorcist(1973).
5. Water is dangerous: We used the convention that water is a deadly force in our trailer and we closely resembled it with death. This is demonstrated by the scenes in our trailer involving the bath which begins as water and turns to blood also the scene in which the yurei rises out of the water. Other films which utilised this were The Final Destination(2009) , Jessabelle(2014) and Jaw(1975) which based its entire film around danger from the water.
6. Antagonist walking towards camera: The antagonist walking towards the camera creates a sense of immersion for the viewer and we used this in our trailer to break up parts of our trailer to show the yuries progression. The technique is also good to use for jump scares as a threat approaching the camera draws the viewers attention making the sudden appearance of a threat more scary. this can be seen from The Woman In Black 2(2015), The Ring(2002) also used the antagonist approaching the camera for the reveal of the yurei.
Developing Conventions
1. Alternate story lines: Unlike most trailer which either use clips from all over the trailer to create a somewhat linear sequence which vaguely illustrates the story, while other trailer collaborate shots from all parts of the film to showcase the most action pack/scary parts of the film into a montage. Films that did this include The Evil Dead(2013) and Haunt(2013), our trailer differed from these as although our trailer did include montage like aspects of non-linear shots we also had a linear sequence in which the dialogue is in order and is a full conversation which in a way narrates the trailer pulling the vague storyline together.
2. Representations of characters and identity: This is referring to the representation of the psychiatrist and how in the scenes in which the Protagonist(Michael) is talking to him as in the shots which show the psychiatrist his face is framed out of the shot, this is to illustrate that he is not real and in fact the whole sequence is taking place in his mind due to the fact that we haven't given the psychiatrist an identity as he is the same person as the psychiatrist and in effect the character is questioning his own sanity .
3 Use of bathroom as scene of death: Many other films have featured death scenes in Bathrooms such as Psycho(1960), Final Destination(2000) and The Dexter series (2006-2013). How are trailer differs from those is that rather than just featuring one of kill scenes in the bathroom it is also a huge part of the back story of the Yurei as well as where the protagonist suffers much of his physiological torment.
Challenging conventions
1. Role between protagonist and antagonist blurred: Rather than having a simple obvious villain and a hero who has little negative qualities and therefore wins our support and sympathy we have more complex characters who have both negative and positive qualities. Although there are many films which have "Anti-Heroes" who are similar to our characters our trailer goes further as not only are the characters roles blurred but in fact swapped through the trailer as would be in the film as we learn more about them. Although not entirely shown in the trailer it does outline that the Yurei will become to be seen as more of a victim while the protagonist more of a murder and the roles will swap in a way.
2. Use of male as protagonist: Our use of a male contradicts Carol Clover "Final Girl" theory as well as most horror films which show the main protagonist and last surviving character as a Girl, in our trailer only one girl is seen and she is the antagonist which also differs from many other films.
1. Use of pictures to create an unsettling atmosphere: Pictures are used in horror films to represent different things in ours we used the photo of Emily to represent a false sense of happiness with the character, this was contradictory to reality as the character is in fact dead. We later used the picture to convey despair and the transition of the character from innocent to soulless represented the eyes in the picture scratched out. This method is common place in the horror genre as seen The Woman in Black(2012) where the family has there eyes scratched out. We used the method of pictures portraying a false happy reality to create a creepy atmosphere in our previous media product, our opening title sequence Delirium(2014) and both of these methods were used in Oculus(2014).
2. Use of Yurei as antagonist: A couple of year ago the use of the Yurei would of been more originally but the concept has been made well known with films like The Ring(2002) and The Grudge(2004). However the idea of the Yurei is old not only in Japanese folklore but also in movies as the concepts that make up the yurei have been used many times before, the main concept being that the Yurei is a young child (in most cases a young girl) this symbolising innocence. Also the white robe that is worn by the character also symbolising innocence, the most obvious example of a Yurei like character is the girl from The Exorcist(1973) although she does not act like a yurei, that being she is not silent she does fit the profile of a yurei in age and much of the appearance, mainly the white robe.
3. Use of kitchen knife as murder weapon: The use of Kitchen Knife in horror has become a Cliché which is mostly commonly associated with the Halloween(1978) Franchise as the weapon of Michael the deranged protagonist. Even though we only used it briefly in our trailer and it was not the weapon of choice for our main killer we did use it as a weapon of murder.
4. Imagery of innocence used to portray antagonist: Use of innocences to portray our antagonist by representing it as a little girl this is using a convention as it has been used many times before in films like The Ring(2002), The Exorcist (1973) and Halloween(1978) mainly in the intro. We also used the clothing of the yurei which was a white gown to represent innocence, this was also used in The Ring(2002) and The exorcist(1973).
5. Water is dangerous: We used the convention that water is a deadly force in our trailer and we closely resembled it with death. This is demonstrated by the scenes in our trailer involving the bath which begins as water and turns to blood also the scene in which the yurei rises out of the water. Other films which utilised this were The Final Destination(2009) , Jessabelle(2014) and Jaw(1975) which based its entire film around danger from the water.
6. Antagonist walking towards camera: The antagonist walking towards the camera creates a sense of immersion for the viewer and we used this in our trailer to break up parts of our trailer to show the yuries progression. The technique is also good to use for jump scares as a threat approaching the camera draws the viewers attention making the sudden appearance of a threat more scary. this can be seen from The Woman In Black 2(2015), The Ring(2002) also used the antagonist approaching the camera for the reveal of the yurei.
Developing Conventions
1. Alternate story lines: Unlike most trailer which either use clips from all over the trailer to create a somewhat linear sequence which vaguely illustrates the story, while other trailer collaborate shots from all parts of the film to showcase the most action pack/scary parts of the film into a montage. Films that did this include The Evil Dead(2013) and Haunt(2013), our trailer differed from these as although our trailer did include montage like aspects of non-linear shots we also had a linear sequence in which the dialogue is in order and is a full conversation which in a way narrates the trailer pulling the vague storyline together.
2. Representations of characters and identity: This is referring to the representation of the psychiatrist and how in the scenes in which the Protagonist(Michael) is talking to him as in the shots which show the psychiatrist his face is framed out of the shot, this is to illustrate that he is not real and in fact the whole sequence is taking place in his mind due to the fact that we haven't given the psychiatrist an identity as he is the same person as the psychiatrist and in effect the character is questioning his own sanity .
3 Use of bathroom as scene of death: Many other films have featured death scenes in Bathrooms such as Psycho(1960), Final Destination(2000) and The Dexter series (2006-2013). How are trailer differs from those is that rather than just featuring one of kill scenes in the bathroom it is also a huge part of the back story of the Yurei as well as where the protagonist suffers much of his physiological torment.
Challenging conventions
1. Role between protagonist and antagonist blurred: Rather than having a simple obvious villain and a hero who has little negative qualities and therefore wins our support and sympathy we have more complex characters who have both negative and positive qualities. Although there are many films which have "Anti-Heroes" who are similar to our characters our trailer goes further as not only are the characters roles blurred but in fact swapped through the trailer as would be in the film as we learn more about them. Although not entirely shown in the trailer it does outline that the Yurei will become to be seen as more of a victim while the protagonist more of a murder and the roles will swap in a way.
2. Use of male as protagonist: Our use of a male contradicts Carol Clover "Final Girl" theory as well as most horror films which show the main protagonist and last surviving character as a Girl, in our trailer only one girl is seen and she is the antagonist which also differs from many other films.