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

Forms and conventions define a genre and are the way in which something is done. Within my work I have used, challenged and developed  some of these forms and conventions. My genre was in the shape of supernatural Horror. The main fil I compared my film to was paranormal activity and their conventions.

Supernatural Horror usually sets place in an environment that is deemed safe. For example I set my location at a house where you would think nothing can harm you. Giving it that realism to the audience that these events about to occur can happen anywhere. With the location comes a powerful creature lurking in the shadows waiting to pounce. Throughout the film this evil being torments the characters till its satisfied. My film includes just that as the evil being controls and plays with the main character to the point where her boyfriend is worried and asking questions. Another convention of this genre is the use of dark tones and depressing features. My film follows that convention as the demon is attired in all black and the necklace is black alluring to evil overpowering this situation. Sound and Mise en scene played a big factor in delivering the execution of it being a devastating ending. Triggering the thoughts of the audience that this is not going to end well. How the sound comes in but then sharply stops signals that the entity really is just toying with the character popping up behind her; which is ironic as the film is called don't turn around.

 

In supernatural horror, the key to costume is simplicity, this is so that the audience’s attention is not diverted away from the action in the scene, so we can identify the mood of the character and distinguish between different character personas.
In my film it does exactly that.The main character is wearing jeans, nothing provocative or revealing. The main female character is to be a grown woman and so she wears clothing that is smart. She is likely to wear neutral, pastel colours, such as light greys, baby blues, soft yellows, nudes and creams which in this film follows that form. The make-up of the female character gives her a natural, fresh faced look.
During the more horror-induced scenes we see the character looking erratic, with dishevelled appearances and unkempt hair and make-up. For the makeup of the demon is shows a shade of white showing that the demon is not of human nature.

The creaking of a door and the curtain blowing in the wind by the open window are common occurrences in supernatural horrors as they symbolise the entry of the unknown. These tend to take place in the earlier stages of the narrative. In this film again it follows that convention as the attic door opens and finds the box with the necklace in and frees the spirit.

It is conventional to use backlighting in scenes where the spirit will not be exposed, we can only see the silhouette that has been created which is shown in Don't turn Around at the early stages of the narrative.

A convention I did challenge was the jump scares. I did not really use this form as it was more of a soundtrack to reveal the demon rather than completely making the audience jump off their chairs.