Evaluation pt. 2 - In what ways does the media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

Throughout the films planning it was essential that we not only maintain the status quo towards psychological horror but to also bring something new to the table and challenge the social norms that surround the genre. The conventions that were maintained revolve around the use of traditional camera shots and sequences i.e. Subjectivity and restricted narrative. The audience is constantly kept with the mind of the character with very little genuine dialogue but also within the parameters of what the character knows and sees.
Furthermore the use of conventional camera angles and pace of editing, slow and tense, is maintained throughout with a final climactic scene accounting for almost all of the films loud and expressive elements being saved until last.







However it was also important to do something new that challenges the conventional approaches in several forms such as a male lead which could attract a female audience since it normally a female victim but also to make the a single almost unattached character to heighten the loneliness whereas normal horror movies involve a popular social figure to make the feeling of loss more profound and impacting in the world of the film but ours is very isolated at first with the idea of the “cursed DVD” expanding only made apparent in the office and last scenes.













But despite the conventions and challenges it manages to remain loyal to the genre with a very slow pace of editing so as to build tension and to allow the characters and sequence of events to develop into the climactic finish at the end where it feels that all the emotions and tensions have been building up to this point in order to unleash on the audience the raw power of what has occurred and what has been implied since the beginning of the film.
In terms of subverting expectations the film manages to keep the usual norms but also to add a different twist into the genre. Since psycho-horrors are usually aimed at a large audience but made primarily to scare the female audience since its those that are normally portrayed as the victims but here the man is the victim which can make the females more at ease and the males more tense but the idea being that since the public are used to a female victim and the males all of a sudden being targeted creates a feeling of equality and that men are just as much in harm’s way as the women.
































It becomes obvious to any fan of the horror genre that our film takes many snippets and idea from pre-existing films in that scenes and angles are used that are commonly used to add atmosphere in the horror genre i.e. the car park scene taken from Candyman and the DVD scene taken from the Ring, indeed the whole premise of a killer DVD, representing the media in general, is common as portraying that the media can cause harm wither it be enhancing an already disturbed characters condition or actively taking part in the character demise. However these films tend to have the character “death by media” occur as a result of supernatural occurrences whereas our film doesn’t actually have the character being killed by the DVD but rather adding a supernatural element that is meant to represent the character approaching death and the actual death being the result of the characters mental imbalances and so whereas most horrors usually have a simple message i.e. don’t drive at night or don’t trust a stranger, our film takes a different route.

Our film is an indication of the characters overreliance on the media which causes him to detach from reality to a point where is death is only natural since he can no longer be considered a part of this world and the implications of it spreading shows that this isn’t an isolated events but can occur to anyone at any time and unless it is monitored and managed can spread.








The idea is to shock and scare the audience into realising that media reliance is a serious issue in today’s modern age which makes me believe that this film carries a more serious and up to date message that the audience can relate to and ultimately feel responsible for whereas other horror film rely on the supernatural element to drive home and take up the whole film with a message thrown in for good measure, here its vice versa with the message (psychological) being the priority and the supernatural (horror) following behind as secondary.

After the audience research I believe we have conveyed this message effectively however duo to the social norms dominating the horror genre the audience can be confused since the film doesn’t follow it word for word, that doesn’t mean that the message is lost but it does mean that the audience may need to watch the film two or three extra times to finally realise what the film is meant to represent since they won’t be used to a psychological horror film being dominated by the psychological side rather than the horror, but alternatively this only occurs due to the superiority of the traditional market which is tailored to only scare the audience whereas to a psychological genre fan it is made a lot more aware what the film is about making the film itself tread a fine line towards its potential audience.

Snuff will attract a horror fan due to it scariness but also a psychological fan due to its implied meaning which I feel can make it appeal to both a causal film goer and an educated media specialist who will see the implied message and the horror fans seeing as a different style of horror film who will see hints of a message and be attracted to watch it again to further their own understanding. In a sense I can feel proud of the fact that when a person takes a real interest it can educate the audience no just by bringing to light the issue of media reliance but also to look deeper into other films for hidden messages that are apparent throughout all films but often overlooked.



















In conclusion while this project makes a lot of effort to follow the tradition of the psychological horror genre it also takes great pains to deviate if only slightly, it makes the film message more obvious but in order to do this the supernatural element had to be toned down but even though this was done both psychological and horror are still maintained equally the message of films like the Ring and the Grudge can often be over looked and indeed not noticed due to its heavy scare tactics which was something I wished to avoid by making the message more obvious but also using message heavy films like Paranoia and Shutter Island as a reference since these tend to ignore or tone down the tense and emotional areas in favour of the message. These films help to not only generate conventional ideas in terms of camera shots and atmospheres but also to create a unique and challenging blend of the two genres that enable the audience to understand that a films depth can run further than simply what’s on the screen and reach into the real world to display something that is already there but overlooked.