Q1

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

2. Genre Conventions:
 Having relatable locations
 Flashbacks
 An orchestral score
 An every-day appearance of the characters
 Dominant social issues
 Lack of weapons
 Low key/ambient lighting

3. How did you meet these
conventions?
 We met our conventions well and I think that the genre of our
film is clear from our opening sequence. Our locations enable
our target audience to gain personal identity from the film as
they can relate to the idea of a school environment. Also the
desolate and eerie setting of the woods helps to connote the
isolation of the protagonist as a result of her situation. The
shot in the teenagers bedroom also enables personal identity
for our target audience as it is likely to be a place that they
spend a lot of their time. This then enforces emotional
pleasures as the audience are likely to feel scared due to the
relatable setting of the shot.

4. How did you meet these
conventions?
 Our opening sequence starts as a flashback in order to
demonstrate the disturbed mind of our protagonist therefore
we met this convention. I think that it works well as it
emphasizes the torment of the girl. It also demonstrates our
ability as a group to show a variation of time zones through
our technical skills as it is clear when there is a flash back
and when it is present day. We did develop this convention
slightly and merged the two time zones together (in the shot
in the woods where the protagonist sees her dead friends).
This worked well as it introduced the enigma and clearly
showed the problem that the girl was facing in that she was
seeing ghosts.

5. How did you meet these
conventions?
 We didn’t stray from the convention of including an orchestral
score as we found that the collection of instruments in the score
would connote the collective torments in the protagonists head.
The score that we found fitted well to our opening sequence due
to the pace being parallel to what was happening in the
sequence. As the tempo and volume increase in the score, so
does the intensity of the sequence.
 We ensured that our characters sustained an everyday
appearance regarding their costumes as it reinforced the idea of
personal identity for the audience. We appealed to our more
sophisticated, secondary audience through the use of costumes
as the children in the shot at school are wearing a smart school
uniform, and the protagonist is in a suit. This suggests that they
are in private education which is often associated with a more
sophisticated and smarter way of living.

6. How did you meet these
conventions?
 It was important that we met the convention of referencing
dominant social issues as our narrative is anchored around the
issue of mental illness. There is an underlying suggestion that the
protagonist may be suffering from schizophrenia or some form of
personality disorder. Although we haven’t made this
predominantly clear, it is an option for the solution of the
enigma, which our secondary audience are more likely to pick up
on. Due to the fact that mental health is an increasing problem
in today’s society, particularly with our age group, we thought
that it was a suitable topic to reference.
 A lack of weapons was also important as it highlighted the idea
of a psychological torment, rather than anything physical. The
deaths of the four characters at the beginning are ambiguous
and there is no indication of weapons as blood is not visible. This
provides the audience with intellectual pleasures because there
is now an enigma which they will want to solve.

7. How did you meet these
conventions?
 Low key lighting is a typical convention of horror films so we
included it briefly in the bedroom shot in order to connote
the fear and stress felt by the protagonist as she wakes from
a nightmare/flashback. However we also used a lot of
ambient lighting in order to increase the realism of our
production. It allowed us to encourage personal identity for
the audience. The ambient lighting created a sinister tone
because the audience could then receive the emotional
pleasure of fear, as it’s almost as though they themselves
could experience what’s happening in the opening sequence.

8. Did you challenge any of these
conventions?
 During our research and planning stage, we were
considering challenging the convention of the line of
action/180 degree rule as it would have disorientated
the audience so they would receive a visceral pleasure
as they would feel unsettled. However after
experimenting with the shots, we found that it only
looked confusing.
 Although we didn’t challenge these conventions, we did
develop some of them in order to suit our production (as
previously stated about the flashback convention).

9. Form conventions:
 Production logos
 A flashback
 Credits
 Foreshadowing either the disequilibrium or the new
equilibrium

10. How did you meet these
conventions?
 We included both our production and distributer logos (Studio
Canal and Warp Films).
 As previously mentioned, we included a flashback in our
production in order to clearly display what is tormenting our
protagonist.
 We included our credits in the conventional order for our
genre: Production Company, distributer, actor’s names,
casting director, writer, producer, director.
 We displayed part of the disequilibrium in our opening
sequence, foreshadowing the outline of the narrative, giving
the audience and idea as to what the film is about.

11. Institutional Conventions:
 Independently produced
 Sophisticated narrative
 Low budget:
1. No CGI
2. No A-list actors

12. How did you meet these
conventions?
 Our production company is Warp Films, which is a well
known independent film and television production
company.
 We developed the idea of having a sophisticated
narrative as the enigmatic part of the production is
aimed at our secondary audience. The main narrative is
quite simple, but if you were to examine the plot more
thoroughly, our secondary more sophisticated audience
would pick up on the reference to social issues and the
connection to mental health. This therefore makes the
narrative more complicated as there are more options
as to who/what our antagonist is.

13. How did you meet these
conventions?
 We strictly met the convention of producing a low
budget film as we didn’t include any A-list actors and
we didn’t use any props or include any CGI. We did all
of our editing was done on Final Cut Pro X that our
school provided. This software comes at a reasonable
price and enabled us to edit how we wanted. Also, all of
the equipment that we used was loaned to us by the
school. In some cases, we did use some of our own
pieces of equipment (the GoPro).

14. Technical Conventions:
 Short takes
 Long takes
 Close ups
 Line of action
 Contrapuntal sound
 Fades

15. How did you meet these
conventions?
 We included a lot of short takes when filming the shots of the
dead teenagers in the woods. This helped to connote the
ambiguity of their deaths as so little is known about how it
happened. It also connotes how quickly their lives were taken
when they were so young. These shots are also close ups so
we met this convention as we felt that the close ups connoted
how fearful the protagonist was and how helpless the victims
were.
 We ensured that we included long takes in the production,
such as when we see the protagonist running through the
woods. This helped connote the isolation of the girl as she is
the only person you see for a long time, and also how weak
she is as a result of her fear; she can only run from what is
tormenting her.

16. How did you meet these
conventions?
 We considered challenging the convention of the line of
action as we felt that it could have disorientated the
audience so that they gained the visceral pleasure of
feeling sick and confused. However after deliberation
we decided to stick to the convention as it made the
production look smoother and less complicated.
 We met the convention of including fades as we felt
that it helped to connote the lack of clarity in the
protagonists mind.

17. Did you challenge any of these
conventions?
 We didn’t meet the convention of including
contrapuntal sound simply due to the fact that it didn’t
look right with our production. The score that we found
fitted perfectly and has a sinister tone with its low pitch
and constantly building intensity.

18. Applying our theoretical research
to our production.

19. Auteur’s personal links to their
films:
 From our research we found that it was important for
the director(s) to “impose a personal vision on their
films”. This was perfect for our production as we had
planned for the protagonist and the four dead teenagers
to be of a similar age to us. This enabled us to relate to
any stresses or anxieties that may be felt by people of
that age, which in many cases can lead to mental health
issues. As a group, we are fully aware of the dangers of
mental illness and how it is a rising issue in todays
society, primarily with girls. By having a female
protagonist suffering with her mental state, we felt as
though we could instill some of our knowledge into the
production, increasing our products realism.

20. “Repetition and difference”:
 Steve Neale created the theory of repetition and difference in
which he stated that “Difference is absolutely essential to the
economy of the genre”. He discussed conforming and
subverting the conventions of the genre in order to create a
USP. We have in many ways conformed to the conventions in
order to keep the genre of the film clear, however we have
subverted some genres. A stereotypical location for a horror
film would be somewhere abandoned to increase the tension,
however we have included shots in a school environment
which is uncommon for the horror genre. We have also
included suggestions that the antagonist could be anything
from a supernatural being, to a regular man, conforming to
conventional antagonists. However our subversion of this is
that we have not clarified who/what the antagonist is, as
well as developing the idea in order to include the dangers of
mental health problems.

21. Comparing our production with a
similar production.
‘It Follows’ (2011)

22. Similarities:
Both opening sequences feature a female character. Stereotypically
females are considered the weaker and more vulnerable sex,
therefore they are more suitable for the horror genre when the
intention is to inflict fear.

23. There is tracking in both sequences when the girl in the shot is
running away from something. The tracking connotes that there is
something coming after the character that she is desperate to get
away from. In both cases, she is overcome by fear and is trying to
escape the thing that is chasing her.

24. Differences:
In ‘Apparition’ there is a distinct lack of dialogue which connotes the
emptiness that the protagonist feels and how separated she feels from
the world.
However in ‘It Follows’ there is quite a lot of dialogue. The character in
this production is connected to the world and is facing different issues
to the character in ‘Apparition’ therefore the dialogue connotes how she
is in touch with the people around her and part of a society, whereas our
protagonist isn’t.
In our Production ,we have included the
credits and the title of the film at the
end. ‘It Follows’ has taken a different
approach and not included any of these
things, leaving the narrative ambiguous
and open as to where it will lead.

25. In ‘Apparition’ we have included a lot of close ups and extreme close
ups in order to connote the immense fear in the characters and how
distanced they are from normality. Whilst they have portrayed the
same connotations in ‘It Follows’, they have shown it through the use
of a lot of long shots and extreme long shots. The XLS of the girl on the
beach connotes her vulnerability as she is not protected by anything. It
highlights her fear as she is scrunched up in a ball, as though she wants
to hide from something.

26. The female character in ‘It Follows’ is seen wearing very little clothing and
high heels, putting her in the male gaze. She is sexualized by the excessive
amount of skin she is showing. However in our production, you can see that
our character is represented as the empowered female. She is wearing a
trouser suit which is stereotypically a masculine thing to wear and she is in
control of her sexuality. She does not show any signs of a need for attention
or admiration.
Finally, ‘It Follows’ consists of a lot of ambient sound, with a non-diegetic
dissonant score in the background. As previously stated, this connotes her
connection to the society around her. However, in ‘Apparition’ we have
included a non-diegetic orchestral score throughout the sequence. This
connotes the power of the threat which is scaring the protagonist.