EVALUATION ACTIVITY 1

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

Story and Genre 

SEEN 23:23 PM, is a horror film the reason why we chose this genre is because we liked the fearsome atmosphere it creates. In addition, we thought it would be fun to film, as it allows us to be creative with Mise en scene, camerawork, editing and sound. To indicate our film is a horror we used generic conventions that conform to the genre.

The storyline itself is conventional Ivy is home late at night working on her essay before she receives mysterious messages from an unknown caller ID. She receives the same message number of time, and the last message was sent to her at 23:59 pm. The content of the message appears to be strangely intimidating and aggressive. However, Ivy doesn’t seem to be fazed by it. As she feels like her friends were pranking her. After a while, Ivy walks downstairs toward the kitchen, she has the feeling like someone is following her, though she is by home by herself. Once she reaches out to get a glass of water, a burned and a scalded hand appears right before her and drags her away.

One major horror cliché our opening two minutes has is the young female is targeted by the antagonist. This is effective because it makes the audience who are similar age empathise with the protagonist. We introduced Ivy with a medium shot to highlight the importance of her character. However, we kept the identity of antagonist hidden because not revealing the character creates enigma.Despite, there are aspects in our opening two minutes that convert to the genre such as having a female protagonist that is not a "dumb blond". 

The soundtrack we used also indicates the genre of our film because it conforms. To set the mood/gloomy atmosphere in our opening, we used the rain sound effect. Sound effect of the rain was very subtle and played throughout the opening scene. However, near to the ending where the scene begins to get intense, we used eerie, creepy and low-key music to build up the tension. This is effective because it indicates to the audience something bad is going to happen. Additionally, grabs the audience attention.

Using, a variety of tone/ volume of music in different scenes is significant, in order to add suspense. It also makes scenes more dramatic for example in our ending scene it follows with intense music, scream and then boom.

We felt it was important to use conventional sound effect/music, for opening two minutes to be effective.

Cliff-hanger is very common in horror films it keeps the audience intrigued in the filmmaking them want to watch more.  Our opening ends with Ivy being dragged away. The audience is unaware of what happens to Ivy at the end of the scene, which raises tension and curiosity. We really like our storyline, because it doesn’t give away a lot but enough for the audience to realise the genre and understand the plotline.

Title/Font Style

The title of our film is called SEEN 23:59 PM. We chose this title because it’s appropriate and relates to the content of our film. We decided to put the title at the very end of our opening scene, as it allows the audience the time to process and think about how the title links with the content of our film. Additionally, it raises curiosity in the audience mind building suspense and tension. They will be wondering what it’s called, which makes it even more dramatic when it’s revealed. In addition, the title being at the end means that it will be implanted in the audience minds, making it rememberable, as it’s the last image they see.

The font style we chose is the same as the app I message because the app has a significant part in our film. When making our film we wanted everything from the font style to the title to directly link back to the main storyline. This is because we wanted to make sure everything was relevant and easy to understand.  

The title is in capital letters and bold this makes a statement making it clear to the audience of the title. For the colour of the title, we chose white because it stands out against the black background distinctly. In addition, the colour connotes supernatural, mysterious and spooky conforming to the horror genre.  

As for the squeal title we used a simple font style with a fade effect, that was on the software adobe premiere element.We went for the conventional, white, bold classic style of font because we didn’t want it to disrupt the main focus of the scene. The choice of colour and font style fitted well in our opening scene and blended into scene nicely making our opening two minutes look professional.  

Setting

To show the location of our opening two minutes to the audience we used a long shot. We filmed inside the protagonist home because we liked the interior setting, as it creates more of a natural and intimate atmosphere. Additionally, in the shot, the lighting is very dark to show the film takes place late at night. This automatically helps build up the tension, because nighttime is usually associated with mysteriousness and loneliness. 

Furthermore, in the shot Ivy can be seen walking downstairs past the windows. The use of the long shot in this scene is very effective, as it gives the effect Ivy is being watched; it hits the presence of the antagonist. Additionally, it builds up tension because it raises a sense of curiosity, in the audience mind about what will appear in the next scene.The setting we chose is very conventional in horror films because it takes place in an isolated area. By using a location the viewers are familiar with makes it make more relatable, as the audience can empathise with the character.

Camera And Editing

For our opening two minutes, it was important to use lots of camera work because it was a key aspect of the filming process. In our opening two minutes, we used a variety of camera shots and angles.  It can be noticed that our film mostly contains medium shots. This is because the camera shot creates more of an intimate atmosphere between the audience and character. In addition, we also used multiple close up shots when it was necessary to build up the tension. An example where we used a close-up shot to build up suspense is was when Ivy receives a mysterious message. The shot clearly shows parts of the message, which raise curiosity and mystery. The close-up shot also gets up close and personal, showing the audience the main focus of a particular scene.

In horror films, I have noticed they use lots of closes up and medium shots to frame characters. The use of the shots is very effective, as it allows the audience to see important scenes in detail and clearly. Furthermore, in general, camera work is very important in horror film because it’s used to create enigma.  In our opening two minutes, we used a tracking shot to shows Ivy walking to the kitchen. The shot gives the illusion of Ivy being followed and also hit the presence of the antagonist.

Editing was also very important in putting all the footage together for our opening scene. There was a lot of trimming, cutting, arranging and adjusting that took place.

The camera prevalence though the opening is given to Ivy, this indicates to the audience she is an important character/ protagonist.    

To ensure there was continuity we used editing skills such as match on action. There were multiple times where we used match cutting for example when Ivy open her bedroom door and leaves her room. In order to use match cutting, we had to film two footages, from inside of the bedroom and then outside. After we then had to edit on the software we were using, accurately matching the two footages so they matched. By doing this it allows the audience to acknowledge Ivy is leaving the room and going somewhere. This type of editing made our opening two-minute flow without there being weird cuts that could confuse the audience; instead present a smoother narrative transition.

Additionally, we also trimmed down footages to cut from one scene to another. Such as the close-up shot of Ivy’s feet walking down stairs the camera then cuts to a long shot outside the house. Cuts like this are common in horror films, as they don’t always begin with establishing shot. Personally, this was one of my favorite scenes because the shot/angle gave the illusion of Ivy being watched, as she walks past the window next to the stairs. It hints to the audience that it could be the antagonist, creating enigma, but also shows them where the film is set.  

When editing the footage the lighting was too bright, which is not ideal for a horror film, however by using a tint we were able to get the low/dark lighting that is conventional.

To the end scene, we used a transition effect called fade to black, which made our opening even more dramatic, and attention grabbing.

Special Effects 

Horror films mostly use special effects to create gore things such as fake blood and fake injuries. In our opening two minutes, we used special effects to add detail to the antagonist appearance to make the character appear scary. The identity of the antagonist is hidden throughout the opening scene. However, the audience can see a glimpse of the scarred/burned hand when antagonist drags away Ivy.  

Costume

Through the use of Mise en scene, we made sure the protagonist and antagonist conform to the stereotypical characters.

 The costumes worn by characters inform the audience a lot about them, so it was very important in order for our film to be realists and effective. Ivy (protagonist) is wearing pajamas to show the audience she is relaxed, innocent and comfortable. We wanted to portray her as ordinary someone who the audience could relate with; Pajamas are nightwear-clothing majority of the population wears to bed.