What have you learned from your audience feedback?

How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary texts?

As part of the task of creating a film, I also needed to create an appropriate film poster and double page spread review. The main focus of this task was to create something that would establish a brand for my film - a certain style and continuity. This ensures that my media product is instantaneously recognisible to the audience.

Poster and Film

The poster of a film can have a significant impact on how appealing it comes across to the audience. This is because a poster is what they will most likely consume the most (second to a trailer). Therefore, it needs to be something that will grip the viewers eye and draw their focus to it, thus making them want to see it. 

On my poster, the eyes are a prominent feature because of the idea of the character having a mental afflication. Typically, we would see the first signs of any narcotics, ect, in the eyes - once again referring back to the idea that eyes show more than what we say or do. Also, by using a big close up, it creates a more intense and far more invading stare than had it been a full head shot.

Throughout all my media products, the main theme is the use of the characters eyes. In my film, it started with the shot of the eyes opening, the same still image that is seen on the poster. Additionally, this shot was repeated throughout in various ways. Therefore, making the main motif of the film her eyes. This means that the audience can create a connection between the filn and the poster, as they will be able to recognise the shots. The reason for this, as I have previosuly explained, is that eyes can show many emotions - as "eyes are windows to the soul" and can be regarded as a signifier for something much more sinister when shown in horror. Consequently, I felt the need to use this motif on my poster, using the still from my film to create a connection between the two. I kept the colour scheme dark, as this links with the theme that my film is set at night time, and that the dark is a common convention seen throughout horror. The colours I have used are basic, juxtaposing each other. This therefore meant that I could highlight certain aspects of the poster more - such as the title and tag line. Furthermore, most typical horror film posters prominently feature the protagonist, and since my character is both the protagonist and antagonist - the poster creates a sense of ambiguity, with it being open to interpretation about if she is the evil or not. This is due to the fact that there is not much seen of her, so the audience are left wondering which one it is. As perviously mentioned - this therefore subverts the idea that audiences like to know what is going on in a film in order to make the feel more secure when watching it. Moreover, the image of the eyes creates a more personal connection with the audience. This is important in a psychological horror, as they tend more to rely on the fears of the character, which are exacerbated by the audience due to the likeness of reality. Therefore, the idea of Freud and the relationship between the conscious and unconscious mind can be used here to explain the impact from creating such a connection with the audience can make on them. Likewise - the Hyperdermic Needle Effect Theory may also be applied in terms of my poster and film combined because it plays on the idea of the influence mass media can subliminally have on its audiences. Thus citing back to the idea that the unconscious mind and the refection of fears is prominent in psychological horrors. This is the effect that I have tried to create through the use of both my film and poster.


Yet, it can be argued that since my poster features the tag line "How much of what you dream is real?" - the audience will eventually know what to expect, implying that this is a clear indication of the story. Consequently, because of the potential ambiguity, analytically speaking it means that the success of the function of my poster is somewhat debatable, since it does not explicitly indicate what the film is about. Yet, audience feedback has shown that they are aware of what genre of film the poster is promoting, and by extension, what genre the film is focused on - even if they are not notified of the plot immediately. 

As I have previosuly explained, one of the themes are typically associated with horrors are darkness/night. Also, black typically has connotations of death and darkness, both of which we associated horror with. Moreover, the continuity of the black creates a brand, and this is more visible when looking at my film, poster and review together. Furthermore, the credit block on my poster fits with the conventions of many other posters - as they are placed at the bottom and are notably visible. It also attracts more attention to the release date in white that is situated slightly above it. Thus this makes the combination of my main product and poster succesful and effective because it advertises when the film is to be released. By having this continuity across my poster and short film, it will mean that I can use synergy advertise across a wider range of platforms, making it recognisable to those who have seen any of my products seperately.

Film Review and Film

Firstly, the images I used on my review are a combination my a still from my film, and a photo that I took after finishing my film. Both images show the characters eyese to an extent - as this is the prominent motif across all my media products. This means that the top image gives a representation of what the film is going to consist of. Additionally, the second image has the girl looking away from the viewer. This disconnects them - as opposed to the effect of all my other products. I chose to do this because no  only does it make the spread look better, but it also adds more questions in the viewers mind - what is she looking at? Why is she looking at it? ect - and thus meaning that they would want to watch the film to try to answer theses questions. This links to the theory of FOMO (fear of missing out) and that as audiences we strive to constantly know what is going on in every aspect of a film. Furthermore, the top images shows the girl with a hand over her mouth, suggesting suffocation - this therefore may connote to the audience that death is a prominant theme in the psychological horror - whether it be explicit or implict.

Additonally, I wanted the review to be as minimal as possible - continuting the effect of the poster. This is because after looking at many other psychologial horror advertisments, I came to the conclusion that minimalism is often a re-occuring theme. Therefore, I didn't want the viewer to be distracted by lots of images and text effects, as the main function of the review is to inform. The article itself focuses on the film as a production, rather than it as a story - this is because it highlights to the reader how the film makes you feel, instead of revealing the plot. I chose to write it this way because horror films often come with the idea that if you watch them, it makes you fearless - and so the idea behind what I wrote was to encourage the audience to experience the same emotions, and thus allowing them to brag about it - and therefore indirectly advertising my film through word-of-mouth. I also feel that with the particular stylistic features that I have kept as a constant across my products (colour scheme, images, ect) it adds to the idea that it will again be recognisable across different platforms. Lastly, this means that my review is very conventional, and thus is similar to the existing examples that I explored in magazines such as 'Empire' and 'Little White Lies' - it is the whole colour scheme and images used that makes it unique to my film. 

Consequently, I feel that the combination of my main product and ancillary tasks work well together in creating a regonisable platform. Added to this, it can be argued that they also allow the audience to make the connections between the implicit themes, and perhaps for some, the subliminal messages they are denoting. Moreover, when together they make the audience aware that they are part of a brand through the use of the same stylistic techniques and features. The significance of this is that it means they can identify it quickly - this is also the aim of film. Lastly, I believe that neither ancillary task has given too much away about the film - and this is a trap in which I could I have fallen into through want of making my work popular. Therefore this means that the overall effectiveness of it is far greater than I could have hoped for - after all, who wants to watch a film after finding out the plot and spoiling it beforehand?

How did you use media technologies in the construction and research, planning and evaluation stages?

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

There are many conventions of pre - existing texts, so this essentially means that it is the forms and conventions of those texts that define a genre. This was noted by theorist David Chandler. In my opinion, I agree that the conventions of genres can help to identify the media text, yet I also agree that they can limit them. This can happen if they follow the conventions without manipulating them or changing them slightly - by doing this the text would then be individual and interesting for the viewer. However, it is hard not to be confined by conventions nowadays, and creating a new concept is becoming increasingly harder - this can explain why many films are often updated remakes of original ones.

My film falls into the psychological thriller/horror sub-genre, and with it being one of the most popular film sub-genre, there are many conventions that make it distinguishable from other horrors. With my film, I decided to use many of the conventions that I observed in other films, as well as take inspiration from some that were perhaps not so conventional. 

Conventions of psychological horror films

Psychological horrors are ones that people tend to find scarier, as this is because they play with the idea of reality, and so making the idea of the films events more possible to the audience, and thereby making the reaction to the sub-genre greater than those such as apocalyptic or gore. Furthermore, the films tend to based on factual occurences (this is most notable with films that begin with an 'inspired by' story or a 'based on true events' background). Subsequently, it can make the film more chilling, as the films rely largely on the minds of the viewers to evoke the fear. 

Typical conventions of psychological horror include;

• Characters - rely on their fears and/or abnormal psyche to create fear from the viewer
• Build tension - through atmosphere and the eerie sound effects that exploit both the characters and audiences psychological fears
• Killer/evil - tends to appear as completlely normal - no noticeable signs that they may be the evil in the story
• Weapons -  tend to be that of the mind (something that is often intensified by the audiences own mind) rather than something phsyical, like a knife or a gun
• Location - seemingly unintimidating places like houses or schools
• Sense of realism - this means that the viewer can relate to the film more, increasing their fear
• Flashbacks/forwards - seen in feature length to offer more information about the characters (usually the killer)
• Sound -  use contrapuntal sound (the sound does not match the action that is on screen), as so to therefore create a more disturbing viewing experience.

Conventions of short horror films

As well as looking at the conventions of psychological horrors, I looked at the conventions of short films. Due to short films being what they are - short, there are typical conventions that most of them use, these are as follows;

• Characters - due to the short space of time, there is a limited number of characters that can be used. This is because there is not enough time to build up a back story for each character, and to go into detail about their life. Consequently, most films stick to having only 2 or 3 as so not to confuse the audience by constantly introducing new ones.
• Build tension quickly - this has to be done quickly because of the lack of time. Most films will have the tension building relatively early, some many even have it from the very beginning. This is also done because in order for the disruption to happen effectively and then resolved, there needs to be enough time for the tension to be created to evoke fear.
• Simple narrative - this links to the idea of time once again. The film cannot afford to create a confusing and questionable plot line, otherwise it would end up being too hard to follow and therefore not be effective.
• Sound/camerawork overemphasised - this  needs to be done in order to make the film more interesting. If it just uses basic camerawork then the audience may find it boring and will not feel any fear.
• A twist - this is a prominent convention in most horror films, not just shorts. However they are more effective in short ones because they create tension/fear in a short space of time and leave the audience in either; shock, horror or questioning things.

The horror genre, being so manipulative and malleable, lends itself to short films, so there is no need to create such a detailed backstory. 

Psychoanalytic theory and my media product

This theory is prominent in horror films, and therefore my film doesn't challenge it, but rather conforms to it. This is because many of the ideas I have explored and played with link back to what theorists have posited.

Firstly, my film can be related all the way back to André Breton and the idea of the Surralist movement. This is because it states films are dream/fantasy like, and that is part of what I was trying to achieve with my film. I wanted there to be questioning about where the line between reality and fantasy is placed. I have attempted to show this through the use of effects that create a sense of distortion, as well as certain scenes that make the audience wonder what parts of the film are real. 

I can also apply certain aspects of both Metz and Mulvey's work in the first wave of psychoanalytical theory. This is because they are tied with the idea of escapism, but still have a realism about them too - thus my film is set in an atmosphere that is believable, but still offers a distraction. This consequently explains why I hope my film will be successful because it offers something of which the audience can idenitfy with. Subsequently, this relates to the idea of the subject's longing for a completeness which the film may appear to offer through identification with an image. Furthermore, due to the realistic element of my film, it links back to the idea of the second wave of the psychoanalytical theory in the sense of the theory shifting from the axis of the symbolic order and the imaginary, to that of the symbolic order and the real. Consequently, this relates to the question of what ways my media product uses, develops or challenges forms and conventions because every psychological horror film is applicable to some area of the psychoanalytical theory. Thus, this dennotes that my film uses typical conventions of real media products if it means a theory in which explains real media products effects on the audience can be associated with it.

Additionally, Freudian theories have long influenced horror and the effects of consuming it. So, again, my film uses forms and conventions of real media texts because I believe my film relates to Freud's ideas. This is due to the fact that I had always wanted my character to be the protagonist, and their own mind being the antagonist, as I believed that the idea of how our mind can play tricks on us something that could potentially be terrifying. Furthermore, this is a convention of psychological horror as it is the idea of the unknown and the relatibilty of the audience to a situation on screen, that they can then apply in reality. Thus, as I explored Freud's work further, and his arguments on secret desires or urges that lay hidden to us that drive our motivations, it became clear that my film was very much along those lines. This is because my main plot for my film was to make it so the audience questioned the full potential of what we can do, whether it be consciously or unconsciously - and so correlating with his work of fearing what we are really capable of, and the control over that. 

Subsequently, it is clear to see how much the psychoanalytic film theory has influenced horror, and the psychological horror films within it. This is because many of the conventions that are now typically seen in the films stemmed from that of theorists arguments and psychologists deeper understanding of the mind. Therefore meaning that if I can apply such a theory to my own work, then it doesn't challenge any conventions, but instead uses and somewhat develops them.

 

Film  

When creating my film 'NEUROTIC' there were many technical aspects that I had to consider. I also wanted to stick to as many conventions as a I could - because there is of course a reason why conventions are established - they are popular. Therefore, I felt that if my film was more like conventional psychological films then I would have a better chance of having my target audinece respond more positively to it. Moreover, psychological horrors tend to play on the audiences fears and so I was wary that if I strayed from conventions then my film wouldn't end up doing this. 

Mise en scene

For my film I wanted the location to be something that was relatable to the audience - therefore I chose to shoot it all in a house, a place that is generally considered to be 'safe'. Further to this, I used the idea of dreams and sleep - this is again something that features in horror due to it being something that people generally don't consider to be harmful to them. It also gives the element of realism, and so this therefore plays on the fears of the audience even more because it means that the story is more believeable. We also typically see houses feature is psycholgical horrors - perhaps the most notable example of a house being used as a place of entrapment is in 'Scream' and the story in centreded around young normal teens - thus this connects with the audience more because they will be around the same age and may share the same social demographics. 

Lighting was another key aspect of my film. This is due to the fact that it is all shot at night in the dark - so there was the problem of having it show up on camera. To combat this I tested lots of different lighting settings, and then ended up using my phone held above the camera - only so the character would show up on the screen in the foreground, but keep the rest of the background in the dark. I also considered using a type of night - vision effect, but decided against this because this is rarely seen in psycholgical horrors, and if it is, it is usually done with the effect of the footage being some sort of handheld device - and example being 'The Blair Witch Project'. 
 

It has been widely recognised that the most typical convention with regards to characters and costume is that there is an attractive young female usually sexualised in clothes that attract the male gaze or are related to viginity/innocence. This is also often noted as the "final girl", and examples in existing texts include 'Halloween', 'The Shining' and 'Cabin in the Woods' (this particular example splits this sterotype between two female characters). Consequently, in my film, I decided to have the main character be a young female - to fit with the conventions of many other psychological horrors. I also only created one characters, and this fits with short film conventions because they usually only feature a limited number of characters as to not confuse the audience. However, I didn't want to sexualise the character in anyway, because I didn't want to go along the lines of that convention. Yet, a lot of my film features close ups of the characters face and heavy breathing - this could be interpreted as sexual, although it was more about evoking fear and thus was not the intention. As a result, this may or may not affect the consumption of the film, as men are usually associated as viewers of the horror genre/sub - genres. Laura Mulvey stated that long shots/ tilted up shots are used to objectify women in horror - and so I directly challenged this convention by not including any shots that would portray the character as a "weak" female". Additionally, my film is slightly different because she is both the protagonist and antagonist - thus she is her own enemy, and this therefore disputes the convention that the men in the audience seek idenfication when the killer is a "strong" male character.

Sound

With most psychologial horrors, the audience's experience of fear is usually exacerbated through the use of eerie sound effects and the manipulation of silence. It is also used to build tension - as seen in the open sequence in 'Scream'. In my film, I haven't used any type of music or songs - this is because I wanted to focus more on short bursts of sound to make the audience jump or compliment cuts. This means that the majority of the sound in my film is  contrapuntal sound - whereby it does not match with what is happening on screen. An example of this found in my film would be the sharp screaming of a women, yet there would be no women screaming on screen. This is a convention of short film - thus meaning that my media prodct uses certain conventions of real media products. Furthermore, in short films, sound is typically overemphasized as a way to make the narrative more interesting. I followed this convention in my film by making the sound loud when paired with cuts that I had overedited with effects. I also took inspiration from the original 'Carrie' film in terms of the prom scene - "They're all gonna laugh at you" - where the crowd is seen laughing hysterically. I did this by having short cuts of a crowd laughing, with the idea that all the laughter was in her head, adding to the distorted and uncomfortable effect. I also used the sound effect of a heartbeat to create tension, and it also gave the audience an insight as to what the character was feeling. Lastly, I used clips of the characters heavy breathing at the beginning and end of my film. This was beacause some type of breathing often features in horror - but I used it in my film because deep breathing is usually done as a coping mechanism or to calm down. This adds to the story line and also gives a disconcerting effect - that should make the audience uncomfortable.

Camerawork 

Another important aspect of film, short films in particular, is the way they are shot. This is beacuse they can often give a depper meaning to the film, or help to stroyline better. For my film, I decided to use a range of different shots, and used inspiration form existing texts in order to make the viewing experience more effective. I included long shots, POV shots, high and low angle, close ups, big close ups and over the shoulder shots. 

Here, you can see my use of a close up and an overshoulder shot. I chose to use these to create a deeper connection to the audience, because instead of being an outsider looking in, it gives the effect that the audience is in the film, part of what the character is experiencing. This means that it links to the conventions of psychological by playing on the fears on the character, and projecting those onto the audience. Moreover, I took much of my inspiration for the shots from the short 'The Smiling Man', as I was uncomfortable when I first watched the film, and felt that through its camera angles it added to this feeling - something that I was keen to replicate in the audience with my film.

Additionally, I decided to use an over shoulder shot to add to the story line - this is because the audience needed to made aware of what the character was doing. This is a convention that is often used in horror to create tension, as the audience are usually shown something that is mundane, such as filling a cup, with the intention of it meaning something later. This also directly goes against the convention that Hitchcock played on through the MacGuffin Theory in which the protagonist pursues something that has little affect to the overarching plot of the story.

Furthermore, after watching 'The Smiling Man', I was motivated to make my short film feature interesting angles and perspectives, and thus it has heavily influenced the outcome of my film. I aslo too into account the conventions of short films, and that they often also feature exaggerrated camera shots to add to the narrative. Therefore, for my film, I decided to place the camera against the wall when the character walks into the bathroom. This then gives the audience a different viewpoint, because later they can only see the relection of what is happening. This essentially means their reality is altered because it creates discomfort, due to the fact that they can only see what is going on through a mirror - and everything reflected in mirrors is a duplication of an object that appears almost identical, but is revered in the direction perpendicular to the mirror surface. Therefore, I created my film using the influence of existing media texts and conventions of real media products to directly affect the audience. 

The shot to the right in my film is from the perspective of the cup the that the character fills up, as she is visible. This shot could also consitute as a worms eye view, because it is below the character. I decided to use this in my film for a few reasons; the first being that it is a different view for the audience to experience. Also, it add to the storyline, as the audience needed to know that the liquid in the cup was clear at that point in the film. Moreover, much like my other shots, it is convention of short films to use exaggerated camerawork. I also felt this particulalr shot was in keeping with the idea of creating an uncomfortable viewing experience for my audience - that being the main aim of any psychological horror.

Above are two more camera angles that I chose to use - high and low. This because the low shot came from the perspective of the character sank into a corner, and I used the high shot with the aim of portraying the character as weak and unstable. This links to the traditional character type that we see in horror - the "weak" female who stuggles throughout the film. Thus, the audience would expect to see this, and the females may find identification with her, as opposed to the male viewers who would find identification through being stonger than her - re-enforcing the idea of uses and gratifications in terms of what the audience gain from watching horror films.

Editing

I focused heavily on editing techniques for my film - this was because I wanted the audience to enjoy the film, but also wanted it to fit with the idea of the story revolving around the main character being mental disturbed, and thus wanted to make it disjointed and distorted. This therfore goes against most conventional horrors, because they don't tend to use a range of editing techniques - an example that omits this is the original 'Carrie' film, through the use of splitscreens duing the prom scene.

Firstly, the shot above is taken from a split second where the close up quickly changes to a 3D effect. I chose to edit this because I feel that it makes the viewing experience more unique, and paired with the high pitch contrapuntal sound, it turns into a sort of jump scare. Additionally, the effect gives a hallucinogenic/psychodellic feel to it - linking to the idea of her being mentally impaired.

For the shot to the left, I purposly over edited the extreme close up of the girls eyes. This is due to the fact that it gives a terrifying quality to her expression, and makes the colours more vivid. This part of my film is repeated often, along with a high pitch screen - meaning that the overall effect of it is to make the audience jump. This also means that there is a slight continuity throughtout my film as it is repeated - which could potentially create a deeper meaning - an idea that is often applied to psycholgical horrors (as already seen through the use of the psychoanalytical theory). Furthermore, for the second image, I decided to edit it to make it look like a dream. The overall impact of this is to confuse the audience, making them unsure what reality they are seeing on the screen. Thus, this links back to the idea of creating a deeper meaning in the minds of the audience - affecting them after they see the film - an aim of many psychologial horrors.

 

Poster

When thinking about making a poster for my film, I wanted it to fit with the aesthetic of my film - meaning that it was obviously a psychological horror. To do this, I researched a lot of existing film posters, and noted that many of them drew focus to eyes, or used eyes as the sole focal point;

Thus, I wanted my poster to follow this style, and I had already used a big close up shot at the beginning of my film, as I was thinking along the lines of the saying 'eyes are the window to the soul'. Additionally, having the eyes as the focal point makes a connection with the audience, draws them in and makes a direct link that can evoke empathy, thus increasing the viewing. This again relates to the idea of escapism within film. Furthermore, I also chose to have the protagonist as the main images - this is another convention of horror posters and also allows recognition for the audience that both the poster and what they see in the film are related. Similarly, in most of the posters that I looked at, the title was in the bottom half - which makes sense, as the focus is the eyes. Consequently, this was another convention that I used in my own poster. It was also because I needed something that would be bold and stand out against the black background colour - meaning it is the second part of my poster that draws any attention.

In terms of colour scheme, I wanted it to be dark , as darker colours and themes are typically associated with horrors. Therefore, I kept the colours very basic. The black base colour - this is because I thought it worked best with the image, and was easiest colour to fade the image into. Additionally, because my film takes place at night, in the dark - I wanted my poster to reflect this. Also, black typically has connotations of death and darkness, both of which we associated horror with. Therefore, it sticks with the conventions of exiting posters because many of them use a darker colour scheme. I also used white - this was to make all the text stand out against the background, but I also wanted it to link with the eyes. This therefore means that my poster is more asethetically pleasing because the colours aren't too busy, or clash. Also, it somewhat creates a brand, and this is more visible when looking at my film review and poster together. Consequently, the only real colour on my poster is the blue from her eyes, and even this isn't particularly vivid, because I changed the opacity of the image to make it fit with the background better. The tag line has a slight blue/grey tint to fit with the colour of the eyes - and I did this because I didn't want the poster to consist solely of black and white. Furthermore, the credit block on my poster fits with the conventions of many other posters - as they are placed at the bottom and are notably visible. It also attracts more attention to the release date in white that is situated slightly above it.

With regards to mise - en - scene, I haven't used any props that could signify the weapon - something that is often seen on many horror posters. Instead, I have just featured the protagonists eyes, yet, because she is also the antagonist (although the audience are not aware of it), it means that I have, in a way, also featured the weapon - because the "weapon" in my film is her own mind. The image I chose to use is a still taken from the beginning of my film. By using a big close up, it creates a more intense and far more invading stare than had it been a full head shot. 

Additionally, the right lighting was particularly challenging to achieve for this shot. This was because the idea is her waking at night, so it couldn't be too harsh (such as a torch or light) but she wasn't visible on the camera without the light. As a result, I ended up achieveing this result by using white screen on an iPhone, with the brightness setting on 50%. This meant that for the overall lighting of the poster wasnt too harsh, but instead slightly dull in tone. I then edited it to fade into the black and changed the opacity - this meant that it linked back to dark and theme of night time.

Uses and gratifications

My poster subverts the idea of surveillance in terms of uses and gratifications. This is due to the fact that the audience is supposed to get pleasure from knowing what is going on around them, in order to make them feel more secure watching something they can identify as 'not real'. However, because my poster image offers no clue as to what they might experience in the film, it would mean they wouldn't achieve any safety watching it. Yet, the idea of escapism may be applicable to my film through my poster. This means that if my target audience put together the image and tag line with the title and its meaning (synonyms include; mentally ill, mentally disturbed, mentally deranged, unstable, unbalanced, ect) then perhaps this could give them a clue as to what expect from it. Consequently, as the poster offers an idea that the film is to do with the mind, it could mean that it allows the audience to escape their reality and be transported into a world of hyper - realism. So, for my film they may imagine themselves in place of the character, and her experiencing all of the tricks of her mind. Additionally, we all feel a sense of pride when we make connections or figure something out whilst watching a film - so this means that my audience could potentially feel this also if they make the link between what neurotic is, the image and the tag line.

Film Review (DPS)

After making my poster, I then went on to create my film review. Similar to how I looked at conventions of film posters, I did the same for my spread. This is because I wanted it to be conventional so that my audience would have not trouble in recognising what it was. However, most of the spreads that I looked at didn't typically use darker colour schemes - and since mine was about a horror, I wanted it to fit with what I have previously created, so I developed some of the conventions to fit with what I wanted to see from my work, and would then by extension be what my audience would see. 

Furthermore, many of the film reviews usually feature live action shots from the film - as to offer more insight to what the film is like and the quality of it. Because of this, I decided to use images that I captured from my film. However, I also challenged this convention by using an image that I had taken separately for the purpose of using on my spread. Moreover, many double page spreads feature few images, which is something that I liked because it meant that the page wasnt overcrowded, and instead highlighted the image, but at the same time didn't detract from the text. I also think the images I have chosen represent the psychological horror genre well. Additionally, I kept with the theme of focusing on the characters eyes. This again links back to the 'eyes are the windows to the soul' saying. I also did this because when under the influence of any narcotics or have a mental afliction, it is the eyes that are usually the first telling sign. My final pages is based largely on that of one above - this is because I wanted it to fit closely with what most film reviews look like making it as authentic as possible. Therefore, my spread doesn't actually challenge many forms and conventions of real media texts.

With regards to the text - I wanted it to be a review on the film, but focus more on the effect of the film and how its made, instead of focusing on the story. This is because it gives some insight into what the film is like, and offers perspectives on it, but doesn't give away too much. By doing this, the idea is to attract my audience to watch it, rather than reading about it and seeing not point in investing any time into it. I was going to use pull quotes to support my review, but decided against it. This is because it is something that is typically seen with interviews, and not reviews. Instead, I placed separate text in a white box to highlight it. The idea of this is very much like a pull quote - it grips the reader and pushes them to read further.

Similar to my poster, the colour scheme of my double page spread is black, white and grey. This is because I wanted to maintain a certain brand - making it instantly recognisable what film was being reviewed. As well as this, as previously mentioned, the film takes place at night, and so the black represents the darkness - a convention that is typically seen in many horror films across any sub-genre. I used the white to stand out against the black background - just as I had done with my poster. I chose this because I juxtaposition of the black and white can represent the juxtapoisition of the antagonist vs that protagnoist, and the idea of her mental conflict. Moreover, it shows the difference betweens dreams, or rather nightmares, and reality. The black is the nightmare - of which we are afraid, and the white is the reality - the relief when we wake up and realise it isn't real.Therefore, by creating a 'brand', I am using typical conventions that are seen across
the film industry - as most films follow this type of code.

Uses and Gratifications 

For my dps, the idea of personal relationships can be applied to it. This is because it is written from someone elses perspective after seeing the film. Consequently, this means that the audience will consume my film as part of a social activity - so the perspective of someone else is sharing their experiences. Therefore, the emotional stress and attachment to characters mean that viewers share the traumatic experience - and so the audience will have some sort of shared experience with after they read the dps.

Conclusion

Consequently, I have both used, and to a lesser extent, challenged conventions. This is due to the fact that I was not limited by my story - because it is based around a girl who is mentally distrubed, struggling with the line between reality and dreams. When I began making the film - I knew that I wanted it to be slightly unconventional, yet as I explored psycholgical horror further and its meanings I came to realise that the sub - genre itself often subverts most conventions typically found in horror. This therefore also implies that the genre is so unconventional it becomes conventional (this can be explained through the stages of genre development), and so I believe that this has also happened to my film.