Evaluation of our use of genre conventions

A contact sheet detailing some of the important moments in our extract

Title-1

• The title we made shows the title written in blood with a simple background. This is common among many Zombie films such as Dawn of the Dead which had a very similar title with simple red font and a black background.

Credits-2

• We chose to have them in a simple red font as red is generally associated with danger and from my research; I found out that horror films generally use simplistic fonts. Also, it didn’t draw the audience’s attention away from the shots.

Characters-2, 3 & 5

• When horror films are made, they generally feature unknown actors in real locations. This enables the film to come across as more realistic and frightening because the audience can’t relate them to another film/TV show they have seen-this is what we have done.
• We chose two young boys to be victim’s early on as many films, such as the remake of Dawn of the Dead, featured a death of a child early on.
• We also followed the convention that less masculine boys (Conor Fay), who are bad at sport, are weaker and more vulnerable. We chose to cast Conor Fay as the first victim as his long hair differentiates him from the others; we followed the stereotype that men are better at sport so that’s why we had Conor play badly at football. This also fits with David, who is best at football, to be the most masculine one and therefore, the group leader.
• Zombie-Horror films generally feature adult males to feature as their main roles, however, we wouldn’t have been able to get adults to act out each of the roles so we did the best that we could by trying to make it out that our characters were older than they actually are and by using males to fit with the conventions of Zombie-Horror films.

Mise-en-scène-2, 4, 5, 6 & 7

• Horror films are often set in deserted areas, to let the audience know that there is no one else to save them and to create an eerie atmosphere, hence why we chose to film the zombie section of the extract in a deserted forest.
• Our film is about the start of the zombie apocalypse and how it progresses so, we had to keep the garden and forest as they were so it would look like nothing bad has happened yet.
• We chose to make our characters (apart from Michael-the zombie killer) wear casual/smart casual clothes so they wouldn’t appear out of the ordinary and to show the innocence and vulnerability of the boys.
• We chose Michael to wear a suit as it clearly differentiates him from the others and shows his older and more professional role in the film. Many zombie films distinguish the hero by using different clothing e.g in Zombieland the zombie killer wears almost combat clothing.

Camera Work- 4, 8 & 9

• We used a few point of view shots, such as the panning shot of the two youngest boys from behind a tree and a couple from behind the fence in the garden, to give the impression that something bad is going to happen and to give a sense that both groups of boys are being watched so, the audience will be curious as to who or what it is. Therefore, creating tension among the audience. This is common in many horror films that want dramatic irony, which gets the audience scared because they don’t want the characters to die but they know it’s inevitable. We then use a final point of view shot, showing Michael shoot ‘Zombie Conor,’ letting the audience know that the previous point of view shots also represented danger.
• We used an establishing shot of the garden a little bit after the scene of the two younger boys. This helped the audience know that they were in a garden also; it showed that there is a forest behind them, creating a visual link between the two scenes. This creates suspense because even though there is no creepy/eerie music in this scene, there was in the scene of the two boys so, the effect the music had is again carried over to the football scene.  
• We chose to have a close up of ‘Zombie Conor’ spitting over Cameron and a mid shot of him turning around to show that the compassionate and kind side of Conor has changed-completely reversing his roles. This is common in Zombie-Horror films, such as Vivian from the Dawn of the Dead remake who was a sweet child but later turns evil when she is shown as the first zombie encounter in the film.

Editing-4 & 10

• We filmed and edited our extract using transparent editing. Transparent editing is conventional of horror films as the camera work and editing is almost invisible, making the film seem more realistic so therefore, making it more frightening. This is a common aspect of Zombie films such as Dawn of the Dead and 28 Days later as both of these and all the other zombie films I researched used transparent editing to make the film more realistic.
• We chose to cross cut between the boys playing football and the two younger boys finding the football which was kicked over the fence. This allowed us to confirm that the two groups were close by and create the feeling that if one group was in danger, so would the other group. This was later proved when we cut between the three remaining older boys looking for Conor and running towards the zombie and one of the younger boys in danger. Cross cutting between two groups is common in the horror genre as it creates a feeling of tension and gets the audience scared because they know that the others are in trouble if one group gets hurt.
• We used cross dissolves to help switch between the older boys and younger boys, as well as showing our time difference ellipsis  between getting the football out of the shed and the group conversation where they decide to look for Conor. This is a common feature of films in our genre as it helps to change scenes without using non-transparent editing transitions such as wipes.
• We edited in pngs of blood splatters, which had to move as Conor Fay did. This made it looked as though Conor was actually wounded when he was shot. This is a conventional feature of Zombie-Horror as there is often a lot of blood and gore.

Sound- 2, 11 & 12

• We decided to use non-diegetic music which builds up through the first scene from the ident until it reaches its peak on the film’s title. We also used quiet non-diegetic music to create an eerie feel later on in the extract without being overpowering. This is a common feature of horror films as it creates a creepy atmosphere and lets the audience know something bad is going to happen.
• The dialogue between the characters was essential in our piece as it helped to establish the personalities and identities of the characters as well as to help explain the story and what’s going on, for example making the personalities of each of the Characters clear.
• We added in Conor’s zombie noises and grunts to show the loss of human element to him, this is common in many zombie films as it makes the film scarier.
• We added in the sound of Michael’s gun to make the scene seem more realistic and violent as zombie films tend to focus on violence and death.