AS Media Evaluation: Question One.

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

When I was creating my media product, Dante’s Harpie, I made sure that I was following and using the conventions of horror films. I am especially pleased with my opening shot and the point of view shot on the ‘dead body’ as I feel that these shots are the ones that use the conventions in the way that they should be. My audience research meant I had a lot of information to utilise, in which I reflected throughout the film.

Whilst creating my media product, I thought about the different conventions that are present in horror films, more specifically in the sub genres of Slasher and Psychological horror. A convention that our product matches is the killer and his background. A convention of Slasher villains is that in their past they have suffered either great abuse or trauma, which is the fuel and incentive to commit the murders and horrific acts to gain revenge and also a sick satisfaction in doing so. In my Media product when constructing the character of the killer, the idea was that he had constantly been on the receiving end of bad treatment from female figures in his life, giving him a psychotic mindset and a negative view of females, this paired with the reading of Inferno by Dante and the connection to a specific part of the book then further fuels his psychosis and cements the idea in his twisted mind that all females are evil and must be killed to rid them from the world, giving him revenge on his mistreated youth and the satisfaction that he is doing a 'good' thing for the world. Another way that my media product conforms to conventions is the overall setting of the product. In the two minute title sequence, the entirety of it takes place in the same location, A outdoor woodland area. This location is a common one for the Horror genre as well as the sub genres Slasher and Psychological which the product is focused on. Another convention used is the use of a jump-scare, taken from both sub genres of Horror. This is an almost guaranteed way to get a reaction from a viewer and is more common place used in Psychological horror as the antagonist/s are usually supernatural or have a supernatural element among them, like with my media products villain whose psychotic state is shown with through the camera and editing in the product.

Water colour based on passage in Inferno, which fuels the Killers psychosis.

Woodland setting of my product.

One way that my product does not conform to conventions is that the protagonists are not in a group and are not in danger from the murderer. The two main protagonists are two young male policemen, and the story is that they are a part of the investigation team trying to find the murderer. In my media product, they are introduced after the death of the girl in the movie, but overall this the third murder to have taken place. Another way that my product does not form to conventions is the storyline isn't one which is common place used for a Slasher horror. A general basis for a Slasher film is that there is a group of teenagers or young adults who are hunted down by a Killer. My media product whilst incorporating elements from this sub genre, doesn't follow this generic storyline. For my product, we took inspiration from Se7en as a storyline, especially with the characters, the villain and the element of literature used.

The two policemen.