In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?
My media film is based in a hotel, which no one ever goes in, and generally horror films are based in a secluded location where there is no one around. Lee Bay was the perfect place for this as it’s a very run down derelict hotel with some great features such as mold and damp, which has caused a lot of damage to the building. The way it is run down gives that special horror effect. The hotel is also low light which most horrors use very little light anyway, so I took this into consideration when setting the camera up.
The very little light means that there were some great advantages with capturing shadow cast upon the walls and floors. In almost all horror films they will consider using shadows as it represents power in the villain. So once again I took this into mind and tried to work with the shadows.
On the wall in one of the rooms there is a mirror. Mirrors are well known to come up in horrors as you can present different things with them. I tried to show the mirror in this scene to try and use a range of conventions in my film.
You can see the mirror in this shot. When the character is moving it reflects in the mirror to create a sort of ghostly effect. I like the effect of the wallpaper in this as it makes the shot look a lot grittier.
Several times in a typical horror there is either danger or death. I have based my film on a psychopath who lives in a hotel and in the opening title sequence you can see him killing someone who he has kept hostage for entering the building.
As you can see in this screenshot it shows the psycho stabbing the other character. This shot worked really well as you can see the good guy sat in the chair is in the lighter part of the room and the villain is in the shadow. Shadow symbolises evil whereas light symbolises the good. I was trying to get this effect as it gives off a great meaning, which will help the viewer to understand the difference between the good, and the bad.
This shot shows the scenery of where the film is based. This kind of shot is good for the viewers as it gives them an insight on the location. This is a large angle shot, as I wanted to fit as much detail of the surrounding around the building as I could.
This shot shows the name of the hotel the film is filmed in. The way the sign is broken and rusty shows that the hotel itself isn’t going to be pleasant inside.
This shot is to present how big the hotel is. The space is important to show in my film as it gives the viewers more questions to ask about the good character and how he didn’t just run and hide in another part of the hotel. Making the viewer think helps draw them into the film.