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

In the creation of a horror film, I tried to stick as closely to the codes and conventions of existing horror products. This was aided by my research into the genre before I began planning my own. I learnt the importance of close ups, to convey emotion and establish a connection with the character. I used dark lighting to add a sinister atmosphere, and to hint that there might be something lurking in the shadows after all. I used dark, atmospheric music throughout, with no dialogue. This is common for horror, as more importance is placed on building tension and unease than character and plot, at this stage anyway. The POV shot where the protagonist is exploring his surroundings is an example of the way horror films create mystery. This powerpoint shows a few ways how I stuck to codes and conventions:

Codes

The film also has an underlying religious theme to it, common within my sub-genre. This is evident in a few ways, the apples representing sin. Clearly evil is afoot. The drinking scene, where the water changes colour is a light nod towards the water into wine miracle. the opening couple of shots where the protagonist wakes up and emerges is not unlike the birth of man. 

I tried to stick to the convention as much as I could, without any concious effort to subvert the genre. My reasoning was that in terms of this piece of coursework, it would be easier to gain marks by making it obvious how and why I'm doing everything. The only thing that could be a bit different is the age of the protagonist. Usually, they are either young children, older teenagers or adults. I could be wrong, but as far as I'm aware, it's rare for a 16 year old to be the protagonist of a horror film.

As well as horror, I referenced other media products by paying homage to one of my biggest inspirations in filmaking, Quentin Tarantino (http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000233/). Firstly, "Big Kahuna productions" is a reference to the Big Kahuna franchise which is a reoccurring gag in his films. More obviously I included one of his trademark shots, the "boot shot", where the camera is in the position of the boot (or in my case, cupboard), looking straight up at the characters. This chart shows how my shot fits in amongst his: