Forms and Conventions of Media Texts

In this PowerPoint I will be comparing our film to another film of a similar genre, to see how our film is like or unlike real media texts.

I am going to be focusing on the following aspects;

• Camera Shots

• Camera Angles

• Sound

• Mise-en-Scene

• Narrative

• Challenges to the Genre

Camera Shots

Camera shots can have a massive effect on the way that the audience perceives the film. A very common shot used in Horror films is a close-up shot. The use of a close-up shot allows the audience to see the characters face, giving them an insight into the characters emotions. It also allows the audience to see in more detail.

Here is an example of a similarity between our film and a film of the same Genre “Scream”. We used A close up shot in our film to create tension in the Scene when Becky finds out the killer is watching her.In Scream the shot is used when the girl sees “Scream”.

Camera Angles Like camera shots, camera angles plays an important part in how the film is perceived by the audience. Many Horror movies make use of high and low angle shots. This shot is very good at showing who holds the power in specific scenes.

This is an example of a high angle shot used in our film. We used this shot when the characterStacey received a call from the killer for the first time. This suggests that the killer is the person holding all the power in this scene.Likewise this shot here which is used in the film “The Ring”shows Samara looking down on someone, which puts her in power.

Sound

Sound is another main element of film is sound. The two main types of sound used in film is Diegetic and Non-diegetic sound.

In horror films, sound can be used to enhance the atmosphere and create suspense, which is particularly useful in murder scenes ect.

In our film we used both diegetic and non-diegetic sound, an example of this is in our murder scene, which we use both sound effects and music.

Mise-en-Scene Mise-en-Scene can be translated into “put into the scene”. It

describes all off the things that can be seen in frame. The four main aspects are costume, props, setting and space.

Costume is one of the most noticeable aspects of mise-en-scene. This is what the characters wear, which can be used to set the film in a certain era or time. In our film we wore normal clothes, the main reason for this being that we wanted to make the film seem as if it was real life, like many other horror films, which makes the audience relate to the film.

Narrative The narrative of a film is the basic plot that the film

follows. The horror narrative often follows the same patterns.

Our film follows a very similar narrative from films such as the ring or scream, in which a girl receives a phone call from someone, who later ends up murdering them.

The reason that we chose to follow this narrative is because we were short on time, and with just two people we knew we could create a good film.

Changes to the genre

In our film, there was not many things which challenged the genre. The reason we did not challenge the genre was because we did not have much time, so we knew that by following the same character representations ect of this genre we would be able to create a good film. Also we felt that the genre was easily recognizable by a mass audience, so it would attract many people.