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

 

Title of the Film

'Animus', the title of our film, is also the name of a part of the brain that controls psychotic tendencies. By using this we have suggested that our film will be a psychological horror. Also as the title looks like a handwritten scrawl, it further underpins the idea that someone has gone mad. This has been done by other psychological horrors such as The Tennant (1976). As our film is also a psychological horror we felt it would be useful to relate to other films in the genre with the stylistic conventions in our title.

Setting/Location

The scene is set by a river on a cold, wet day and darkness is beginning to set in. Again we are conforming to horror conventions in the use of pathetic fallacy, the use of nature to represent the mood. The mood is gloomy and other indications, like the non-diegetic sound of people screaming, has suggested that something terrible has happened.

Costumes & Props

In the first shot the woman is dressed in smart clothing, sugesting she has come home from work and is passing through her everyday life. This is common of horror movies as the fear is felt more when something evil infects normality.
In the second shot we see the crowbar in the murderer's hand with the woman's mutilated body behind him. The crowbar further suggests the sadistic nature of the killer as it is used to beat the victim to a slow, painful and bloody death. This is shown on the woman's face. The bruises were made using dark eyeshadow and the blood on her face and leg was made with ketchup. Gore is a common feature in horror films like Battle Royale (2000). Like Battle Royale, we aimed to create a gory horror that could still carry a strong story line, blending a convention of horror with a convention of psychological thrillers.

Camerawork & Editing

These shots were made using match-on-action.

The first part of the shot that shows the characters foot coming down into a puddle. To do this we used a worm-view shot that shows the dark sky, bare tree then suddenly taken over by the foot. It is almost overly dramatic and mysterious, which matches a convention of contemporary horror films.

The second part is again overly dramatic as we used slow motion to make the foot look like it came down to the puddle harder than it may have done. Melodrama is common in horror films and can polarize opinions on the film's critical success. I Know What You Did Last Summer (1997) was slated for its ridiculous plot  that made it somewhat comical while Scream (1996) was praised for the exact same thing. We felt that it was an important part of the horror genre and a worthy risk to take.

Title Font & Style

 

The title font is plain and so is the colour. The black and white connotes simplicity and normaility. When contrasted with the main title font, it shows the evil invading the normal. Again this emphasises the fear as people are more scared when something infiltrates the normal lives we thought were safe.

How characters are introduced

This shot can also be used to show how the killer is introduced. As the hood is casting a shadow over the face, the character is dehumaised and made more mysterious to the viewer.

Story & how the opening sets it up

 

This shot shows the beginning of the attack. The hand from under the bed refers to the childlike fear of monsters under the bed, the bed being a symbol of safety that has been desecrated by the killer.

Genre & how the opening suggests it

The light on the face of the killer is a very typical feature of horror films. While it sort of shows the killer's face it also disguises him. This resembles the complexity of the plot and the character.#

Special Effects

This shot demonstrates the use of a black rim around the shot. This was superimposed using iMovie and adds to the dark, gloomy mood.