Evaluation part 4

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

 When first starting the research we decided to do a group analysis on the title sequence of the Evil Dead. We found many things with the connotations of horror in the genre. The Evil Dead conveyed connotations of horror using imagery which can connote the genre of horror using violent imagery. One of the things which we happened to noticed was the ways in which the weapons were presented, they appeared covered in a red blood like substance which connoted the theme of murder and danger. The low key lighting and the presence of chains on the wall gives the sense of sadistic thoughts and actions which may take place later in the film. The low key lighting give us the impression that evil and horrific sights should be hidden away from peering eyes.

The sequence of the Evil Dead allowed us to pick up on a couple of connotations of horror. The way in which the sequence used close up was very unusual and only seemed to show part of the image of either weapons or strange things which all must have a meaning within the film. The sequence showed us that using low key lighting and a very heavy blood red coloured tone in the sequence can lead the audiences mind to conclusions about the film. This idea is then turned on its head when looking at the representations of horror in the title sequence of Zombieland. In this title sequence it shows a very clear depiction of the zombies and the weapons which they may use, by using these two things it allows the audience to a summary that the film is heavily based around weapons and they will a be a lighter theme to the film (possibly an aspect of comedy) due to the lighting being very normal with a high contrast of semi bright colours.

In contrast to the title sequence of these two sequences is ours. Our title sequence is very modern and is based on modern technology and to do these we used a social networking sites (Facebook).We based it on a few finds who are the protagonists. We used social networking sites and elements to give the effect that it is a urban area where the film is taking place. When making the film the effect of a hand held camera would be used to show the panic in a zombie apocalypse scenario. 

When researching the conventions of a horror title sequence we found many things which we compiled into a list. The list had many on it but also some we had made up as a group:

· Low key lighting 

· Faint images

· Foreshadowing of death/bloodshed

· Isolation

·  Scenery - rural/urban

·  Foreshadowing

·  Psychopath/killer - glimpse of character

·  Sets Equilibrium

·  Knife (other weapon types) - foreshadowing physical weapons

·  Medical imagery - experiments

·  Dark clothing 

·  Handheld footage - intensifies the particular area for the audience

·  General slow paced editing - longer duration of time for the audience to observe specific characteristics

·  Orchestral music or heavy rock

·  Scrape like sounds - dissonant sounds

·  Words scraped - engraved into materials - suggests or foreshadows something

·  Connotations of weapons

·  Connotations of blood  

·  Hand held - shaky - unbalance 

·  Close ups - close ups of weapons, characters (abstracts of character qualities)

·  Tracking shot

·  Point of view shot

·  High and low angles 

·  Bird’s eye view

·  Worm eye

·  Pan movement 

·  Establishing shot

The conventions (part of research) of a title sequence may consist of the following:

• Introduction to the protagonists
• music and sounds being elaborated throughout the title sequence
• The editing - time and pace of the shots - continuity
• Connotations of weapons which can be considered to be a way in which the film connotes to the audience that there is going to be bloodshed
• Genre information which is conveyed to the audience 
• Enigma 
• Setting and location: rural/urban
• The use of imagery
• Mise en scene/cinematography/sound and editing- emphasised
• characters/protagonists - types/roles
• Cast and crew
• Film title
• Lighting - affecting mood and tone for the audience
• Colour - establishing the particular concept of connotations (meanings for particular colours used; red could indicate violence/danger and blood)
• Location
• Soundtrack/theme tune
• film contrast
• patterns and tones of editing