Question 1- In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products? H.C
Casting
By having our male lead being chased and in instant danger, we are breaking the convention of having a female character be the Victim. It is common for females to be the target in the horror genre, this is due to them being seen as physically weaker and also is easier to portray vunrability. There aren't as many films which have male victims, some examples are the SAW franchise and Friday the 13th, but unlike our trailer, they involve killing a variety of characters and not having a victim as a single male. |
It is actually common for females to be the killer or the character possessed, it creates the role reversal between men and woman as typically men are seen as the stronger gender. But with our film the female lead is possessed which creates the idea that she is intentionally not trying to hurt anyone. Example of films with a possessed female are 'The Babadook' 2014 and 'Paranormal Activity' 2007, both show a possessed female lead in there movies, but not in there trailer which instead we have done to show more of a story to the audience.
|
Paranormal activity 2007 The Babadook 2014 The conjuring 2013
Setting
It is typical for a trailer to have several different settings to portray a range of seniors. This is due to the style of a trailer, being a montage of clips and often not having links with one shot to another unlike a opening title sequence. We stayed close to this idea by filming at various locations on our filming days. One horror convention is that religion is strongly connected to horror, and in particular to possession. Because of this we decided to film some of our trailer at Gloucester Cathedral, this would give the audience the connection that someone of something is posessing the female lead. |
Understandably your own home is seen as a place of safety, it is a common setting to be used in the horror genre. This is due to people feeling secure in a family enviroment and not expecting to be threatened. One franchise that took this to the next level was the paranormal activity series. Through out the movies, the main characters home have been the main setting. They use this effectly as it makes the audience feel that they are not even safe within the walls of their own home. Another related example being the 2012 horror movie SInister.
We decided to have a couple of clips from our male leads home, as we had him in various other locations, it creates a nice variety and makes the sense that he is being targeted where ever he goes. |
Paranormal Activity 4 2012 Sinister 2012 Deliver Us From Evil 2014
Possession
There are several ways that we tried to show the audience that our horror sub genre is possession. One reason why we chose to use possession is because it is easy to use visual imagery to convey someone being possessed. One way is through the use of movement, we had our male lead lifted up into the air by the force of Samara, this intwined with a sound of him being moved shows the audience that she is possessed and is lifting him. |
One of our tag lines was 'THE POSSESSION OF' followed by the title 'SAMARA WOOD', we decided on this to confirm to the audience that the trailer is associated with horror and that Samara is possessed. Other words that we used in our titles are 'Remember' and 'Forget', these words are to do with memory and the mind and also relates to the main plot of Samara being possessed. Other movies that use possession effectively are 'The Babadook' 2014 and 'The Conjuring' 2013
|