An understanding of conventions of other similar media products
proved to be a vital part in both my foundation and advanced portfolio’s. My
foundation portfolio consisted of a horror opening sequence and my advances
portfolio consisted of a movie teaser trailer, a poster and magazine cover.
My advanced portfolio consisted of more conventional elements
which we included due to the research we did into the horror genre. However, my
foundation opening sequence did not have as many conventional elements as it
was our first production and our advanced portfolio allowed us to consider and
include more detail compared to our past production.
For our opening sequence, our mise-en-scene did not comply
with codes and conventions too much, this is why we focused on sound and
editing to further represent real media products. The music we used was intense
and creepy, suggesting the genre and intentions of characters to the audience;
this is similar to the other teen horrors such as Scream during the lead up to
a killing.
Final cut pro allowed us to change the colouring of our
shot, allowing us to change to greyscale and create a more daunting effect,
relating to the genre of our opening sequence.
The location was in the college, this is seen in many teen
horror movies which is following the conventions and illustrates the characters
age group, furthermore identifying their vulnerability. Teenagers are the most
common victims in horrors such as; scream, I know what you did last summer,
final destination etc, which is why we used this element in both our media
products. Despite the narrative, teenagers always have a higher vulnerability
and are a good connection for the audience to relate to as they would be
teenagers themselves or possibly have children who are of that age, increasing
the suspense.
