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

My product conforms, develops and challenges to the conventions of 'real' media products in various ways;

Genre
My piece develops conventions of genre. McConnell stated, in his theory, that there are just five genres;

1. The king - establishing the state.


2. The knight - consolodating the state.
   
3. The pawn - trapped in the institutionalised state.
   
4. The fool - responding to the madness of the state.


5. Apocalypse - the collapse of the state which leads to a new beginning.
   

My product does not fall perfectly into any of these categories, it contradicts itself by being part of many. The 'Apocalypse' genre depicts the collapse of the state, a theme expressed in the piece, though it leaves no room for one single hero/ protagonist. This means that in order to meet the conventions of real media products expressed through this theory, my product would not be able to contain one single hero. This is not a problem as i have only constructed an opening scene, but if the film were to be created, the use of a protagonist could challenge the conventions of media products stated by McConnell.

This relates highly to Coe's theory - 'The Tyranny of Genre', signigying how genre restrains individual creativity, allowing no films to be completely unique. Elements of this were found in my work, as the group found many similar film openings (such as The Ring), with merely the antagonist differing in each opening. Whilst this can be seen as a restriction, at times it provided stability and a scaffold to help shape my work, defining the characters qualities, iconography and mise en scene. In this sense, my product conforms to the conventions of real media products.

Miller's 'Genre as Social Action' theory depicts a convention used in my production. It shows understanding of how people work together and participate in a community. We can see this in my piece with the characters dialouge, they care for each other and come to each others aid in times of need. This taken into account, my product uses the conventions of media products according to Miller.

Post-modernism is a convention which is challenged by my piece. This theory rejects all boundries of genre, whereas my movie uses genre as a scaffold to shape its representations, story, and technical aspects (camera work, lighting, music etc.). Though my piece does use genre massively, the story stems from a postmodern idea, the sleepover house (or even the sleepover itself) possessing the antagonist, similar to post-modern ideas of man-made things over riding humanity. This shows that the technical, micro, aspects of my film do not conform to post modernism, though the plot itself does.

Audience
Auteur theory states that each piece has one author, one creator. This is challenged in my piece, as the production process was conducted in a group format, leading ideas to be put foward and recieved equally by each member of the group.

Narrative & Characters
My product clearly conforms to narrative conventions according to the theories of Todorov and Propp. Todorov believed that every narrative can be broken down into just five simple stages;

1. The beggining state of equilibrium.


2. The disruption of equilibrium.


3. The recognition of this disruption.


4. An attempt to stop the disruption or repair the damage.


5. A new equilibrium, or the restoration of the original.

This is used by my product as we see stage 1; the sleepover is in equilibrium, stage 2; it is disrupted by the scream (unseen attack) & stage 3; the character travels upstairs to find her attacked friend. The movie, after the opening, would then progress onto the battle to stop the antagonist and return equilibrium. Here, we can clearly see my product conforming the the conventions of real media products.

My product could also be said to use conventions of characters through Propp's theory of 'eight spheres of action'. In this, Propp identifies eight characters seen in most products, though mine only features two as it is mearely the film opening. The villain and false hero are shown in my piece, the villain being the murdering antagonist and the false hero being the character who races to her friends aid only to be captured herself, though this character could also be seen as monster fodder, showing the use of the conventions of real media products.

Micro Features
There are various camera, editing and lighting techniques used which match the conventions of real media products of the horror genre

Close ups - These are often used on characters to emphasise the antagonist's closeness to them, as seen in the case study of Scream. In our movie, a close up is taken of the antagonist to highlight her status and provoke fear in the sense that she is always close. This uses the conventions of real media products of this genre, using the technical features and representation.

Sudden cuts - Films, such as Saw II & Scream, often use sudden cuts to shock the audience by alerting them of something which is not immediately visible. Our movie challenges this convention by using no sudden cuts. This has been done to evoke the viewer into a false sense of calmness, whilst subtly employing the fearful antics of the antagonist.

Lighting - Our movie consists, mainly, of low key lighting. This dim, warming feel has been used to give the viewer a false sense of security, making the initial scare more alarming. This technique uses conventions as it can be seen in Scream, which uses only lighting provided by lamps in the house, used to the same effect as in my own movie.

Macro features
Iconography - Though this movie is of the horror genre, there is very little horror iconography used. There are no masked assailants of shots of a full moon etc. However, horror iconography is used in the form of fake blood as seen in the case study of Saw II.

Setting - The setting of this piece uses the conventions of real media products well. Its setting almost mirrors that of Scream (as seen in the research study), a suburban house with middle class hinting mise en scene, used to make the horror enforce a sense of realism in the viewer.

Characters - A 'final girl' style character is not introduced in this sequence, as this was not the case in the openings of Saw II, Scream & Creep. The movie follows the conventions of these real media products by introducing the antagonist in the first scene, showing only a harsh, fast shot of her, similar to the one seen in Creep.