The document evaluates how the student's film opening uses and develops conventions of the horror genre. It summarizes that the opening establishes characters, setting and storyline that mirror conventions from films like The Blair Witch Project and Cabin in the Woods. Cinematography, editing and soundtrack aim to create an unsettling atmosphere and slowly build tension, as is common in horror films. Overall the student believes the opening is successful in attracting the target horror film audience through its use of familiar genre conventions.

1. In what ways does your media
product use, develop or challenge
forms and conventions of real media
products? (i.e. of film openings)

2. Overall, I believe that our film opening successfully uses
and develops particular forms and conventions of real
horror films. Through research and experimentation, I
was able to understand what conventions we needed
to include in order to attract our target audience and
reach their expectations. Using horror films such as
„The Blair witch project‟, „Cabin in the woods‟ and
other various films, I think that we have been able to
achieve a successful result. In this evaluation activity, I
will evaluate the ways in which our media product
uses and develops these conventions and compare
them to ones used in real horror films.

3. The storyline for our film opening is based around a group of teenagers who are doing
the Duke Of Edinburgh expedition and come across a small barn where they
decide to stay for the night. However as they look around the barn, they begin to
hear and see unusual things which makes them question who or what has
lived/worked there before. Ultimately in the film, the unusual presence becomes
clear and the characters find out that the barn in which they are staying used to be
owned by a milkman who looked after the cows. They also discover that in the
previous year, there was a disease that spread through all of the cows and instantly
killed them all. Since that day, the man who looked after the cows was never seen
again. However throughout the film, we are introduced to this character as he
starts to play tricks on the four teenagers and keeps them captive in his barn. The
characters try to escape but are caught and ultimately three of the characters are
killed. The order of deaths between the characters is used as a representation of
their confidence in the film opening. For example, Billy begins with an
overconfident personality and is the character who persuades the rest of them to
stay at the barn. He is the first character who is killed by the Milkman whilst Ben,
the character who is represented in the film opening with a sensible personality is
the only one who manages to escape. The film ends with Ben returning from the
DOFE expedition back to his home, covered in cuts and bruises and without three
of his friends.

4. After producing a quick mind map of possible title
name ideas, we decided on the title ‘The Milkman‟.
This was due to the fact that the storyline is based
around this mysterious character and that he is the
cause of the horror in the film. The majority of horror
films use an event or character that plays a huge part in
the film storyline such as “The ring”, “IT” and “Cabin
in the woods”. This convention is used by most film
producers to entice the audience and make them
question the significance the title name has to the
storyline. Likewise, we used „The Milkman‟ as our film
title name because it will encourage our target audience
to watch the film and find out the importance of this
character. Also, through using a name that is not
usually associated with a horror genre or any other
scary situation, it will leave the audience questioning
how an innocent person like a Milkman could play any
part in a horror film. We made sure that the title would
remain simple and not give away too much of the film.

5. The setting and location of our film opening is used to mirror a similar setting that one
would see on a Duke of Edinburgh expedition. We used a field that wasn‟t being used
which was situated in front of a derelict barn. As the characters are lost in the film
opening, we purposely made sure that there was no sign of civilisation around other
than the barn. I think that we successfully used this convention in our film opening
and introduced the setting well through a long establishing shot and panning
movements. We used low key lighting to establish the setting and in order to conform
to the horror genre. It is typically known for horror film directors to use low key
editing when introducing the setting as it creates a mysterious, dark atmosphere.
Another location we used of course was the barn. Using a derelict location allowed us
to create a creepy surrounding and further reinforce the characters isolation. The barn
was ideal because it fitted with our storyline and looked as if it had recently been used
for farming but has now been neglected.

6. Because our actors are of the same demographic
to the characters, we did not need to spend a lot of
time worrying about the costumes. However, in
order to suggest that the characters were on their
Duke Of Edinburgh expedition, we had to make
sure that the characters were wearing warm
clothes such as coats and gloves as well as
practical clothes such as hiking boots. We also had
to use props like the sleeping bags, tent bags and
large rucksacks to suggest that they were
planning on setting up camp throughout the
walk. This is similar to The Blair witch project
where they all carry large bags and wear practical
Also, some other props we used
included corn flour and water (to
suggest milk), a hammer covered
in ketchup (to suggest blood),
farm machinery and a map. I
think that the props we used
inside the barn were most
successful at conforming to the
horror genre and are a great
example of how we used typical
horror conventions. Most horror
films use props like ours to scare
the audience.

7. Throughout our film opening we tried to
include a large variety of different
camera shots, compositions and
movements. We used certain shots to
suggest certain emotions, events or
settings. For example the first image
above is an example of how we used a
two shot to suggest the characters in
front (Billy and Phoebe) ignoring the
character behind (Ben). This was to
introduce character relationships and
illustrate the unfaithful flirting between
Phoebe and Billy. We purposely made
sure that the depth of field within the
shot was short so that the two characters
in the foreground were in focus whilst
Ben was out of focus.
The image above is an example of
how we were able to use the
match on action technique. This
involved a medium shot of
Martha pointing to the barn which
then cut to a medium shot of the
barn with her hand in the bottom
right hand corner. This suggested
that her hand had remained in the
same place as the characters look
down at the barn. Also the fact
that we didn‟t incorporate the 180
degree rule or shot reverse shot
rule meant that we could enhance
the sense of confusion and worry
between the characters.
An editing technique that I
thought worked extremely well
was the inverted sound of the
characters screaming when they
reach the barn. We did this by
reversing the sound in iMovie.
The result sounded inhuman and
creepy which will put the
audience on edge and make them
feel uncomfortable. I think that
we could have used more editing
techniques in order to conform to
the horror genre. However I
believe the techniques that we did
use worked well.

8. The title font and style of our film was kept simple like other horror films such as
paranormal activity and the Blair witch project. I think that if we had used any fancy
font styles, it could have ruined the effect of the name. The colour of the title stands
out against the black background which will immediately capture the audiences
attention. Similar to the paranormal activity title style, we used a flickering effect
alongside a crackling sound on iMovie to suggest something broken. I think that it is
used effectively because it allows the audiences heart rates to slow back down and
prepare them for the start of the film. The colour white has connotations of a
supernatural presence or innocence. This could be used as irony because it further
reinforces the innocence of the „Milkman‟ who actually is a contaminated murderer
in the film.

9. The opening is based primarily around a dream that the character, Ben is
experiencing. The dream is used to slightly foreshadow the rest of the film and give
hints to what is going to happen later on in the story. We had to make sure that we
didn‟t give too much away in the film opening as we wouldn‟t want to spoil the
experience for our audience. In order to suggest that the first two minutes weren‟t
yet reality but they were part of a dream sequence, we had to use particular editing
and camera work techniques to create a surreal effect and that the character was
waking up towards the end. We also included scenes which would later be shown
in the film to show that Ben is over thinking and worrying in his dream, as young
teenagers often do. The end of the dream sequence when Ben wakes up and looks
at his phone where it read “Duke Of Edinburgh” makes the audience question
whether all that happened in the dream will ultimately happen in real life for Ben.

10. I think that the genre is mainly suggested through the use of music and mise
en scene. Right from the beginning of the film opening we have used an eerie
sound track which creates an uncomfortable atmosphere. Most horror films
are introduced with a scary soundtrack to straight away prepare the
audience for the further thrill throughout the film such as „The others‟. The
props that we used such as the blood covered hammer and the farm
machinery helps to add value to the killer and plot. Many films of the horror
genre use weapons to suggest that the character is a killer.

11. The characters are all first introduced at the beginning of the film opening. Through the dialogue exchanged by each
character, we are able to introduce their personality and how they deal with the situation. We have also managed to
portray the character relationships through clever use of camera work and acting. For example, the two shot shown above
on the left was used in our film opening to illustrate the relationship between the three characters. We purposely altered
the depth of field so that Ben was out of focus. This was used to inform the audience of Ben‟s feelings and how he feels
neglected by his girlfriend, Phoebe. It also represents Billy as an over confident character who is thoughtless of Ben‟s
feelings and how Phoebe is an easily lead „flirt‟. We then introduce the character of Martha where she interrupts with “For
god‟s sake, we don‟t need your relationship problems”. This automatically represents Martha as the peacemaker of the
group and the character who is much more wary of what is happening. She is also not afraid to stand up to the others and
so is also represented as being quite confident. In the first 30 seconds of our film opening, the audience are introduced to
the four stereotypes of the group (The flirt, the peacemaker, the jock/alpha male and the outcast) all of which are
commonly used in well known horror films such as Cabin in the woods. Like our film, Cabin in the woods purposely
orders the death s of the characters in a particular way. It starts with „the flirt‟ or the „girl next door‟ as she is the weakest
character, it then is the over confident character who the audience don‟t often like. (It almost pleases them and makes
them want to watch the rest) The next death is the other male character and finally the last two that are standing are the
two that were originally introduced as the outcasts or under confident characters. This is similar to our film as Ben, the
outcast is the only character who returns from the expedition alive.

12. We didn‟t use very many special effects in our film opening because we didn‟t
want anything to appear unprofessional if we weren‟t able to produce it to a good
enough quality. However in order to create the surreal effect of a dream sequence
we adjusted the brightness and contrast of the shots at the beginning using
iMovie. All of the transitions we used in our film opening were simple fade in and
fade out so that there was no sign of editing for the viewers. Another special effect
we used was reversing the sound of the characters screaming which created a
inhuman noise. If the character were to be introduced in our film opening we
would have used prosthetics on his face such as scars and pale skin. This is a
convention used by a lot of horror films such as The ring and Cabin in the woods.