Evaluation: Question 1

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

The title of the production

During our production we found it difficult to come up with a suitable title for our
production that accurately represented our genre. We had to change the title of
our production various times due to changes in ideas for our production. Once
we had secured a firm idea for our production, we decided on the title The Mist.
The Mist accurately represented our production as the phrase The Mist
connotes danger and the unknown. Which is what our main protagonist Hannah
was going through in our production. She was in an unknown area and was
unaware of what was going to happen next. The Mist connotes a veil which was
over our main protagonist preventing her from escaping the dangers that lay
within the forest.
This title accurately matched the codes and conventions found within a horror
genre, as Mist is usually associated with horror and misery. Also in our
production our Title was shown at the end, capturing the audiences attention as
the screen faded to black as our main protagonist lay on the floor. This would
entice the audience to watch the full 90 minutes film.

Title and Font Style:

The title and font style as shown, is white with a black background and with the
effect of scribbled rush writing. Although this may not be generic to the codes
and conventions to a horror genre it still has a profound effect to our audiences.
White as a font colour may not be generic as it has connotations of innocence
and happiness, however as we applied this with a black background, it implies
that the darkness and evil will slowly consume the innocence of our main
protagonist. This is a theme seen throughout our production as our main
character is also seen wearing white implying her innocence whist she is in dark
environment indicating the danger she is in. Also as our production ends on a
cliff hanger, the title appears at the very end leaving a bold statement lingering
in the audiences mind as to what will happen next. The font used also has the
effect of being written in a rush and scribbled. This is a generic convention of a
horror genre as it implies that our main protagonist is in danger and is in dire
need of help.

The location/setting of our production

The setting of our production was in a forest/woods, this is a generic convention
of the horror genre, as forests are typically associated with terror, death and fear.
It also complied with the conventions of a real media product as The Forest and
The Cabin the woods both successful horror films were set in a forest. The
production explore various aspects of the forest, implying that our main
protagonist is caged within the forest. Also the forest we chose to film in, is very
eerie looking, with twigs and branches laying everywhere. This added to the
horror of our location as the area seemed as if no human/person had been
present there for quite a while adding that our main protagonist was there alone
with no help by her side.
The reason we chose a forest was because we believed it would play on our
audiences built in fear of forests. As many horror and folk tales derive from
forests, playing on their minds that something terrible is going to happen to our
main protagonist. Keeping our audiences on the edge of their seats as they
anticipated something frightening to occur whilst watching our production.
Camerawork and Editing

Throughout the filming process, we ensured we had a variety of shots. We had

many close up shots to show the terror on our main protagonists face and
convey to the audiences her fear. This is generic to the horror genre, as horrors
typically used many close ups to show the expressions of characters faces. We
also used various shots to show the location of our horror, to convey to our
audiences where our main protagonist was and the feeling of no way out. Whilst
editing, we made our production appear darker, as we wanted the themes of
terror, fear and horror to be seen by audiences. This helped to create a sombre
atmosphere and the feeling of the unknown keeping our audiences alert and
anticipated for the next scene.