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

Courtney-Jade OReilly Evaluation of Edward

1. The title
We took inspiration for our title from the American TV series Dexter, with the idea of realism of just a normal mans name instead of a typical horror name. This, we felt, had a more chilling effect for the storyline of our film as it focuses on the development of the character Edward into his murderous obsession. It can therefore be argued that we did not adhere to the conventional horror movie title, but instead explored how our film could be presented even further and through the simple name of Edward as a much more sinister emphasis on the narrative, and it

2. Monochrome inserts
We took inspiration from Heavenly Creatures in the form of using monochrome inserts to enhance the suspense of the title sequence. But unlike Heavenly Creatures that uses this effect to convey flashbacks and the past, our group decided that we would interpret this further. Instead, we used monochrome inserts to represent the future and the inevitable outcome of Edwards victims. Consequently this helps to reveal the final girl to the audience and creates the characterization and inevitable outcome of this character. It can be argued we adhered to the idea of flashbacks in a typical horror film and wanted to develop and explore

3. setting
To improve, I feel we could have experimented with the setting of our sequence instead of adhering to a typical horror setting so that it shows we have taken into further consideration what setting would be best for our narrative. Although it worked well and we took advantage of the setting, maybe even another setting to add to the sequence could have made

It is evident that we chose to film our sequence in the woods. We felt the woods held a sense of freedom and open possibilities, so this could be interpreted for our narrative that Edwards murderous mind is completely open to new

4. Costume
We adhered to the typical costume of females in horror films, that is dull clothing but further experimented with the introduction of a red dress. This therefore shows that we developed the typical forms and aspects of a horror film further.
Our characters costumes are very dull and basic apart from one. We decided to make one of our actresses wear bright clothing, specifically red, in order to connote danger and death. Through the difference of costume it is clear that the four girls come from different background and situations in relation to Edwards murders.

I particularly like this use of a exterior close-up because I feel it portrays the girls fear well, and this is a main priority that we wanted to achieve. I feel close-ups are important to specifically the horror genre in

5. Camera work
We were overall content with the footage we gained on our filming day. We definitely experimented with the variety of shots we captured, especially shaky cam. This effect worked really well for us because it created a sense of a chase almost in the perspective of Edward. To improve we could produce a wider variety of shots that through editing our final cut could be of a longer duration.

We were most happy with this shot because it came out really well when it came to eventually editing the piece. We mastered the depth of field on the tree and created the sense of a lack of importance of the female character in comparison to the power of Edward.

6. genre
It can be argued that our title sequence is not scary enough to adhere to a slasher horror as such. Our sequence is more suitable to the genre of a psychological horror, with the omnipotent presence of the unseen Edward, creating intrigue and mystery for the narrative. To improve on this we could have created a murder scene in the sequence in order to make it that more fearful for the audience.

I think it is clear that the film we have created is of a scary nature, due to the idea of an unfriendly chase due to the expressions of the girls.

7. characterization
To develop the characterization of our characters I feel we could have had them in different situations that are still emphasizing their vulnerability. This would develop the storyline of the title sequence to a further extent than it already is. Although I do believe that the actresses worked really well in portraying fear and

All of our female characters are quite pale to convey the sense of innocence in contrast to the bloodshed that will occur when they are eventually killed. Through the running through the woods perceives them to be quite vulnerable and incapable of running away from the inevitable.

8. The story
Through the lack of escape in respect of the girls, we wanted this to represent the idea that Edward cannot escape the murderous side of himself without any realization on his behalf. The storyline of our film could have been clearer, through shots of different surroundings and situations but I am still happy of the unknown theme that Edward is never seen, so I feel we could have made developments with further intrigue of who this character

I think it is clear that the character of Edward is a potentially dangerous character, through his lack of presence in the title sequence.

9. typography
We decided to use bold typography to represent the bold two sides to the character of Edward. We believe bold yet plain fonts are more modern, especially for horror films so we decided to keep it simplistic in order to hopefully create social realism in the sense the storyline could in fact happen in modern day. The typography is also quite neat to emphasize the irony that Edward in fact does not know what he is doing, confirming that he is challenged in the head, in