Evaluation of Use / Manipulation of Genre Conventions

Predictions

• It is quite easy to predict roughly what will happen in our movie from the opening
• Feedback we received was generally quite positive, and the feedback was ideal to what we were looking for and helped us make changes.
• Made us realise that the audience had an idea of what the story line is and the correct emotions were felt by the viewer so we felt we had established genre efficiently.

Opening Shots

• Sets a quite tense atmosphere as two boys walking through a forest alone seems unusual

• Consequently the audience is forced to suspect something bad will come from this
• It creates the mood it was intended to

 

 Credits

• We used simple red credits as it suits our genre and doesn’t draw the audience’s attention away from the story which is the convention in this genre where the opening has to be dramatic and atention-grabbing plotwise.
• Simple credits make them seem more realistic and go well with the story line
• They are also similar credits to those of films within the same genre

3 & 4) Characters

• Zombie Horror films all feature a similar range of characters. They are the popular one, the nerd, the vulnerable one and the moody one.We have kept to these roles.
• Characters in zombie horror films often suffer from a loss of a family member or close friend
• The characters tend to be a mix of all races and classes so the audience can easily relate to them - we have followed this convention in our casting
• We used two young boys in our sequence. They were the ‘princesses’ of the film, needing to be saved and are vulnerable.

 5)  Location

• Typically in Zombie Horror films the characters almost always have a safety base where they are able to return to. This would be the garden in our case.
• The location is a very important part of our film as the boys see it as a place where they are safe. This is opposed by the wood location where they feel out of control and not safe at all.

6, 7, 8) Other aspects of Mise-en-scene

• We used props such as the gun to make our sequence have more impact - we need the audience to feel the dangers are major and the consequences can be serious. Most zombie films begin with a quick death and we have two in quick succession.
• The only person who was well dressed was I, the zombie killer. This was to make the characters more relatable too. It also made me distinctive from the other. It allowed the audience to know that I wasn’t one of the normal boys - Zombieland also quickly separated the zombie experts from the amatuers.
• We used an external artist to do create the Zombie make up. We thought this was best as it made the zombie look more realistic and scarier - we followed the convention of making the face appear to be rotting.
• The two little boys we used were more timid and defenceless. This allowed the audience to relate to them and can also sympathise.

9, 10, 11) Camera work and Editing

• We used lots of close ups and group shots to allow the audience to identify and relate to the characters. This is the convention in opening sequences generally.
• It is common for the audience to relate closely to characters in zombie horror films as to makes the story seem more real
• We used no typical shot-reverse-shots as it didn’t suit any conversations we feature
• We did not include many transitions as they we not needed. The one time we did use one was between the football scene and when the boys decide to go and find Conor. Lengthier scenes are common in the genre because these films often start with action rather than dialogue.

12) Sound

• The main sound we used was non-diegetic music. Being quite quiet, the music created a tense, scary atmosphere. It allows the audience to realise that the film will be quite scary, a conventional horror use of sound.
• The amount of dialogue used in our film was the appropriate amount as it is enough to establish the characters and their relationships between each other. Film openings often use dialogue in this way.
• The pace they speak at tells the audience that they do not suspect anything is wrong with Conor, and the reason why he is taking so long is simply because he cannot find the ball.