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

Throughout the production of my media products, I have incorporated and included many classic conventions of a paranormal horror film. The genre itself toys with the fear of the unknown and what we deem to see as normal in life, and I have used this in the production of my film in order for it to be easily digested and recognized as a horror. A key aspect of the supernatural genre is the idea of an omnipresent being or entity, that later indicates danger or inflicts harm upon the main protagonists, not only does this show in my film but I have also used many of my own implications of this idea in order to convey a shorter run time and create a story line easy to follow. Throughout the film it is evident that the entity shown is that of an antagonistic nature which will follow onto the theme of death and darkness, due to the colour scheme throughout being very dull and unhappy creating a good setup for the plot and horror to unfold.

Another aspect of the supernatural I would like to discuss and one of the most prominent features of horror is the use of a relate-able and likable main character that will frequently confront disturbed characters or entities and situations, which usually will often be the encounter in the story. Nevertheless, to some extent, I've gone in contradiction of this convention, as my main protagonist, Ashleigh initially seems to be quite sullen right from the start due to the lack of dialogue throughout the film and this is done on purpose in order for the audience to be able to compare her with that of both her partner and her surroundings, which show similarities, foreshadowing to the viewer that something is about to happen.

The supernatural tends to heavily focus on the relationship between the possessed and their mind, with this I was able to show the process of a once seemingly normal woman thrown into mania and a state of possession using cinematic and editorial techniques like quit cuts of a still image, distorted sound score and slow paced build up, which in my opinion this film has plenty of. There has to be this element of build up to make the process feel and seem for believable to the viewer else otherwise they wouldn't be able to identify that this person is going through a traumatic experience and that we are taken along with it. This would not be achievable by having my protagonist normal one shot and then absolutely manic the next, a key sequence which highlights this is the second to last, where she is seen with the demon behind her, whispering in her ear and holding up the pendant.

Jump scares are more of the recognized conventions of any horror, or in some case at least a disturbing build-up of images creating a tense viewing experience. I included only a few jump scares in order to shock the viewers even though it is for a split second, it is the moments after a jump scare in which the viewer is vulnerable and this is the moment when most directors hit you with the real horror. One of my favourite directors, James Wan in a TV interview “Horror is much like comedy, you come in with both the scare and the punchline of the joke, and if your timing is off, both are not scary or not funny”, which he says that timing is a key element in making a good jump scare, and I have taken inspiration from this and incorporated it into my own work.  Numerous main stream horror films contain quite a lot of jump scares; a cheaply made “cash-grab” would include only jump scares. I've decided not to 'over do' the convention, due to my film being only five minutes long, and containing one every half a minute would not produce the anticipated result.

In response to my previously made statement, one of my favourite directors of all time has to be James Wan, who has directed movies such as, The Conjuring (2013), Insidious (2011) and Saw (2004), which are seen to be as some of the last few centuries greatest and scariest horror films. It is apparent that Wan borrowed many elements of The Shining (1980) and applied this into Insidious, as we follow father Josh Lamberts decent into mania which eerily mirrors the transformation from father to maniac that we see from Jack Torrence in The Shining, not only have I attempted to mirror this in my own film, but we also feel great amounts of empathy for Josh and his family as the film strongly centers around their unity and relationship similar to what we see from the 80s horror classic, whereas a film like Amityville Horror (2005) which showcases a fathers pure anger and hostility, we don’t feel a real connected to him or the family like we do in Insidious, and through analyzing this theme of family and unity we can see James Wan adapting his own take on the deterioration of a once loving fathers mind. By utilizing the formula of a classic horror better than many imitations do, this elevates Insidious a couple of notches higher than many other modern horror movies as it is done in such a way that stays true to itself without tarnishing the reputation of its predecessor. This is exactly what I have tried to recreate in my film, and what I feel I have taken the majority of the inspiration from when it came to the production.