Evaluation Question-1

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

Narrative
The main narrative of our product is about a teenage girl (Lucy) who experiences voices and the struggles of a mental illness after being bullied to the point of killing 'an old school friend'. The plot is definitely one of a non-linear standard as we feature many flashbacks and flash forward emphasizing Lucy's mental state, with the flashbacks/forwards also recalling memory from each character throughout the film.
One example of this is that Lucy starts off on top of the roof of a building and is reminiscing on past events almost like her life is flashing before her, this then cuts to her walking to the bathrooms in where she sees a reflection which triggers her to remember past events, more specifically the event that started the problem.

Genre
The genre of our film is psychological horror which is a sub-genre of horror that relies on mental and emotional horror to unsettle the audience and make them think. This is seen in our film as our main character is being haunted by what sounds like whispers or someone who seems to be stalking her. But as the viewer we see this as she is going crazy.


camera, angle, shot movement and position
There are many types of shots in out film ranging from medium close ups to low level shots that help to create and set the situation and create an atmosphere that provides tense or the feeling of being followed. Many of the medium shots used were used to show the situation happening from a third person view showing the world around them and what is taking place almost assessing the what is occurring. There were also may instances of close ups that were used to convey emotional and facial expressions of our characters. This is also shown through our favored whip pan that imitates the movement of Lucy and hint that she feels that she is being followed.

continuity and editing
The editing in the film is probably one of its strong points. The films editing starts quite slow paced at first but as it gets toward the end it picks up pace to create a tense atmosphere especially when Lucy and Joe engage in knife combat, leading to the inevitable death of Joe. One important edit is the repetition of some dialogue from the perspective of a third person suggesting she is still being watched for her actions,
such as in The strangers, and the person that walks up to her in the beginning is thought to be the onlooking viewer creating the sense of stalking.Supporting the the psychological aspect of the genre.

Sound
Sound plays a key role in our film with the majority of scenes having eerie sounds which are the only things to give away that its a horror. It consists of a mixture of diegetic and non diegetic sounds that emphasise the story and how real it is meant to feel. Such as the diegetic dialogue and footsteps in man scenes. Where as non diegetic includes much of the soundtrack such as the building crescendo in the bathroom scene and the whispers that play a prominent part in our film. This is also used to support the fact that our film is a psychological horror as many of the sounds use infrared sounds to provoke a certain feeling in the viewer without them knowing.

Mise-en-scene
The locations we chose included a rooftop and bathroom these helped to set atmosphere and a sense of realism to the product. This also goes for the clothing of our characters as these were everyday outfits you may see teenagers wear which suggest they are regular normal people and anything can happen.This is contrasted to the use of bland clothing in horro films of either black, whites or greys. This is also shown as dark lighting is not used and suggests this is not eerie to begin with.

Typography
The few instances in which we use printed matter it is either in the title or as a name. The names are all in the same font 'Adobe Arabic' which is in a black colour hinting at its eerie intent. The other time text is used is in the logo for our group 'Limbo films' This is a white font contrasted on a black background with a unique logo on it. This as well as the film name is in a larger font size to allow them to stand out compared to the names later in the lip.

Iconography
The iconography used includes the use of the prop knife and fake blood to suggest that it is clearly a horror film. The elements that set this aside and emphasise its psychological nature include the use of music and the whispers that  create a unnerving atmosphere and mental unstableness to our main character