'In what way does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?'
In this evaluation I will be talking about the way media use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products. I will be explaining in a nine frame structure, this is to show the understanding of each sub-title stated in this evaluation.
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The title of the film
Our title of the film is called Animus, we have used a very simple font. We've used a white large font which grabs the viewer’s attention by also having a black background. This is to make 'Animus' stand out to the audience, although some people may not understand what animus means but further into the film you will understand what it means. This will bring more attention to the film as they are very interested why it is called animus. Conor came up with the film name, as he searched it up in relation to fire revenge and any other word that fitted in. We had the title of the film 2.42 minutes into the film which was at the end of the opening sequence. This was our plan to make sure the attention was still there so we left it at a death as you expect it to carry on but it’s actually leaving you there wondering what’s happened.
Setting/location
The setting and location was located in two different places, but having the first location set was at the River wey, in Guildford which was very public and was very different compared to some horror genres. Friday the 13th is a very similar film, as part of their location was set by the lake, and ours was set by the river. They also both the same aim in the film and that is to murder people for a purpose. In the link to 'Friday the 13th' you can see that in the opening sequence that people are walking next to the River and walking across it. So to keep it very similar, genre wise this is why we set the opening sequence by the river. However, our location then changes to a house which was still located in Guildford but on the other side. The set at the house showed more of the horror genre itself as she was by herself and you could see him watching her from outside. Which does show that horror genre very well, to keep it very simple the deaths throughout the films are going to be at houses dotted around Guildford.
Costumes and props
The costumes and props is a big thing in all types of movies, especially in a horror genre film this is because of the killings you need to make it very realistic and also need to make sure it’s not too boring. So we experimented by using a crow bar which was very dangerous and very different, as you see in this shot the bar is coming down on her leg which results in cutting her leg open. The costumes were obviously a big thing in our film as we didn't want the killer to be seen and wanted it to be a secret to gain more attention from the viewers. Throughout the film we showed different types of props to back our film up, for example we also used a newspaper saying ' I saw him jump' which leaded back down to the start of the opening sequence when the man commits suicide, this just shows the audience that there is a link in the film.
Camera work and editing
In all horror films, there is always a view from the murderer's eyes. This is a very stereotypical view in a horror film, this shows how the victim is vulnerable position but it also brings a sense of feeling that the victim is about to be killed and we know it’s going to happen but she doesn't. In a stereotypical horror film they always show the murderer is watching them and it makes you wonder how they got under the bed, or how they even got inside. This is what you want to get from the audience as they will be more attracted to the film and also want to know what else happens during the film. In the opening sequence they show a lot of different shots, this is to show that as a group we can provide different angles, but also in a horror film you can experiment a lot considering tilt shots, this is simply because if you show the audience a distorted angle, this means that something is not right at all. Providing it makes sense you can do anything you want to make it your own film but as a horror this does mean that something is going to happen and something isn't right.
Title font and style
The opening sequence shows 5 different people that contributed into our film, so this will obviously gain them notice from different viewers. Our titles font and style was very simple before the killing so this contrasts to our main title, this is because we wanted everything to seem normal and not give away that there is something odd and that our film was going to be killing. The main title is very different as it is a handwriting based title and the font on this one is very straight forward and bland. Both fonts insist of white writing to show they are the same, we have stuck the 5 names in the film altogether in the first part this is to let the names get in the way off the actual filming.
Story and how the opening sets it up
When planning our opening sequence, we used a storyboard which we came up with different type of shots for the sequence; we tried to apply different shot types. We used certain shots like the worm eyed shot, bird view shot. We added a variety of angles and a mixture of different pacing. For example we used a lot of face paced editing with quick and sharp changes, we wanted this to look like it was a panic and it happened all happened very quickly. We also wanted the sequence to flow easily and also add our own unique taste to it. We came up with having unusual angles, adding white to white and then zooming out this all worked very well as we was trying to link two different scenes together and it worked very well.
Genre and how the opening suggests it
As our genre is horror/thriller for the opening sequence we showed normal conventions during our film you would also aspect the very stereotypical horror/thriller film. In the section when the victim is getting beaten up, we made sure there was slow motion involved in that moment. This is due to showing the audience that there is violence happening and by making sure they see the punches are hitting her and suggests this is a horror movie. The props also suggest the film is horror by having her attack her with a crow bar, and that this is very violent and he is making sure the weapon he is using is different to normal weapons such as knifes, guns and many more normal weapons killers would use. The genre was shown very well in our opening sequence and we made a balance in our film between the horror/thriller and normal scenes.
How characters are introduced
The main characters are shown in the opening sequence, without giving away too much information. The killer is shown in the start of the open sequence but you only seen him in the light of the frame which doesn’t give a lot of identity away. This very alike to the character in Friday the 13th as you don’t know the person who kills each person you just see them in a quick glimpse. Jason was shown with a mask so you couldn’t see his face, and our character was dressed in black and you never saw his face in the sequence. We also show the other main character secretly, for example, there was a shot on the couple. That is later on a main character in the film, we used showed the main characters wife being killed but no one knew she was the wife to the main killer until after the opening sequence.
Special effects
We used special effects in our opening sequence which was applied by using the software Imovie; we used a special effect on the clips at the start by using an effect which left the outline darker than the middle part of the shot. This was very effective as the start was suicide which suggested it was very dark, gloomy and even sad, by having this at the start this stated something wasn’t right and that they had to focus on the main part and not everything around it.
As you can see in the two pictures above, they both have titles in the movies. The preliminary task titles wasn't really thought about and was just added into the movie. Where as, in the opening sequence the titles have been thought about and they was their not to take away too much attention. The titles are rather bland in both video's but in contrast they are much better in the opening sequence. We wanted to link the titles to the feeling of the movie at that time, for example after the death in 'Animus' the title was hand written and was messy to show that something isn't right. 
There was a massive improvement in the editing, from the preliminary task to the opening sequence. In the preliminary task the editing wasn't very well done. For example, when using the shot reverse shot in the preliminary task, the shot wasn't very accurate and the door didn't shut completely, then we had to use a sound effect to act as it did, it was very untidy and there was a lot of error's. In contrast to the opening sequence we made sure we was on top of the editing and everything was very accurate. We had a shot of the foot coming to the ground which took a long time to shoot due to getting it correct with the angle, we used a shot reverse shot on this. This went from him walking to you seeing the bottom of his foot to then him splashing in a puddle. It worked very well and was very clear, compared to the preliminary task. The editing was very easy flowing and made a lot of sense in the opening sequence, we thought of different idea's to help us with the shooting. 
