Evaluation. Q1

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

Our video fundamentally replicates modern day films made using huge budgets with only limited resources, through using only what sources of information, expertise and equipment that we had available. Our film uses films such as 'The Silence Of The Lambs' and 'Shaun of the Dead' as inspiration, as they use daylight to almost enhance the fear created. In this way, we join with these iconic films to challenge the questionable notion that horrors must be based in darkened houses, or abandoned hotels in the dead of night. We try to offer an alternative to the films that are churned out of the machines that are Transatlantic Film corporations. We aimed to create a new breed of British film with the idea that you can combine two different genres, horror and mystery, and put a twist on the action sludge that Universal, Warner Brothers and Paramount put out to make a few million profit.

We use the key element of mystery to give the opening a slightly detective style, with the viewer only given enough information to keep them up to date with the story, but not enough to make the plot obvious. We place emphasis on the reality of the situation, in both the video and director's commentary, and the use of a mobile phone and it's diegetic vibration give the scene an even more natural feel. The voiceover show that it is very british, in particular mancunian, and shows that we are proud of our heritage, as we could have employed the use of an American style voice, like most Hollywood blockbuster films. We aim to create something British that may be able to match the days of 'Hammer' horror films in the 1930's. The fact that we use limited cast may provide a refreshing change to Hollywood monstrosities, for example, the film 'Troy' used 100+ in its cast just for the warriors involved.

We used editing software that is quite basic compared to software used by films produced by Blockbuster corporations. We used the software effectively to create a product that wasn't hindered by modern day restrictions put on smaller film companies such as budget and casting. We attempted to use the equipment we had to create a product that uses a combination of intuitive filming, careful editing and sound effects that worked well with our footage. The product we created is different to most films, even independant ones, as it was shot entirely in a normal, manchester park and shows real people and real situations. Even independant films tend to take on rather implausible story lines. We aimed to create something real, something people could leave and think to themselves, 'Wow, that's powerful stuff.'