In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?
Titles
In our opening we used a title sequence, naming each of the team members which made our production possible. Our titles were conventional of horror films as they were in black and white, however for the title naming the editor we used a play on light. Our titles were clearly visible on screen, but did not distract the audience too much from the actual footage. We also made sure that they stayed on long enough to be read but not too long as to distract from the opening itself. Through careful editing we were able to have the titles and black background slide into the shot to reveal the names.
This is the opening titles from another psychological horror, One Missed Call (2008, Valette). It also uses a white font against a black background for a dramatic effect. The original Japanese version of The Ring, called Ringu (1998, Nakata) also uses a similar style title, including a black background and white font. We took inspiration from these title sequences, however we made ours individual by having the titles appear whilst the actual footage was being played, this way we could have more time to include more footage instead of screen time being lost due to a title sequence. 
We chose to have the title of our film at the very end of our opening for a dramatic effect. We spent a lot of time editing it so that each letter of our title came on the screen to spell our title and it repeats it several times and each time getting fast and faster. We chose to do this because it represents a Ouija board and this was also the reason why we chose this font. It is effective because it links in with the rest of the film. Having the title at the end of the film is challenging of horror openings however I think it was effective in this case because if it had been at the beginning then the audience would not have understood the reason for the unique way in which it entered the screen. Although this is different to many psychological horrors, it is not ideologically destabilising of horror films and still fit in with the general mood of the film. Characters
Our lead character, which takes up most of the screen time, is a young female. This is conventional of horrors, because females are often seen as the weaker and more vulnerable of characters. This is true of films such as The Ring (2002, Verbinski), One Missed Call (2008, Valette) The Exorcist (1973, Friedkin) and Paranormal Activity (2007, Peli). In the first shot of our opening sequence the audience are introduced to a group of young teenage girls. They are all laughing and messing around which reinforces the idea that girls are naïve and innocent. They are seen as the victims whilst doing the Ouija board and are more convincingly scared and affected by the board than male characters would have been.
For our villain we have used a male character, which is also conventional of most films, especially horror because stereotypically they are seen as stronger, more powerful and more likely to scare an audience as they are a more convincing villain.
Mise-en-scene
When making our film opening we thought carefully about the use of mise-en-scene. It is important in order to set the scene and make the audience aware of circumstances such as location, the type of characters present and the time of day due to lighting. To show that our protagonist is just an average teenage girl to begin with, we chose to have some socks lying on her bedroom floor which she walks past. This is a representation of her messiness, just like any other teenage girls’ bedroom would be.
Props
Our main prop used was the glass and Ouija board letters which were cut out and placed in a circle formation on a round table. This made the whole opening more realistic and believable and without these props the opening would not make sense. We also use a piece of costume as a prop. The coat that the girl wears to school is used to reveal the shot, by taking it off of the camera which is acting as a coat stand. This is an interesting and individual opening to a shot which we found very effective.
Plot
Our plot consists of a conventional story line, the idea of possession is not an individual one in psychological horror. Many films such as The Exorcism of Emily Rose (Derrickson, 2005) are based around this idea. The sacrilegious themes running throughout are enough to scare the audience without the need for gore or expensive special effects. It also makes the whole thing seem more realistic because there aren’t any ridiculous stunts, this means the audience can relate to the plot making it more personal and traumatic for each individual.
Our plot is also based around the idea of using a Ouija board, again this is a conventional plot idea. From 1890 to 1950 Ouija boards were very popular with teenagers, they were considered to be a fun and rebellious thing to do at parties and sleepovers with other friends. Many were scared when using it that they may release an evil spirit, our film exposes this fear and shows the audience one of the worst possible consequences. Sound
We chose to use a twinkly piece of childrens’ music for our film opening. We thought that piece was appropriate for our piece as is represents the innocence and naivety of the possessed young girl. The twinkling innocent piano keys are a contrast to the serious matter of possession so has a creepy and eerie effect. We took inspiration from the theme music from Halloween (Carpenter, 1978) and When a Stranger Calls but instead of having it build up we thought it would be better to stay fairly simple with just the piano, during the audience into a false sense of security. Whilst researching other psychological horrors we found that several, such as The Exorcist (Friedkin, 1973) use epic sounding music which builds up and creates tension by using instruments such as drums. So in that respect with our choice of simple music we are challenging the form of music used in other psychological horror media productions.
Diegetic sounds include heavy breathing when the girl is about to pass out when using the Ouija board. This is effective as it creates an enigma, what is wrong with the girl? Has something gone wrong? These questions are vital to our opening as we need the audience to be fully engaged to understand the beginning so that the visions later on will make sense.
The very start of our piece is a black screen with the sound of girls’ laughter, and then the girls are revealed to be sitting round a table. This laughter denotes the idea that they are - innocent
- naive
- vulnerable
There is not much dialogue between characters in our piece because when researching other horror films we found that less conversation between characters was better. It creates the feel of isolation for the protagonist and also shows that the situation is out of the ordinary. Films which also use this technique include The Exorcism of Emily Rose. However, the little dialogue we do have is choppy creates a sense of confusion. The way we have edited it, with lots of different sections of dialogue put together so that it does not make much sense also creates the illusion that a lot of time has passed by.
The most dialogue we have is at the very end with a voice over from a newsreader discussing the death of a young girl. We chose to have this dialogue without the newsreader on the 
screen so that we could use it to have out title come on. The title takes a long time to appear fully so this sound will still keep the attention of the audience without them getting bored of the repetitive screen. We also used white noise at the end of the newscast because the noise fits in with the grey fuzz which is on the screen. Camera work
Camera work and specific shots were very important to our opening as we used them to show the domination of power and control in a given situation. For example in the beginning there is a worms eye view from the angle of the glass on the Ouija boards looking up towards the finger being placed on it. This shot gives the idea that the girls are in control and are more powerful. However later on when our protagonist wakes up there is a high angle shot (Birds eye view) looking down on her. This gives the idea that she is weaker and that there is some stronger force looming over her.
We also use a shallow to deep focus shot when the girl is walking away from the camera towards her bedroom door. This shot is important in that it represents the idea of morning and her waking up from her hazy state and being able to focus on this problem which she is so far oblivious to.
Editing
Editing was particularly important for our piece, as we needed in several places to be able to manipulate the idea of time. Our first challenge was the use of the Ouija board. We wanted the audience to believe that they had used it for a long time and that several incidents had happened so that the girls were actually frightened of the results. However to do this we would have to show several minutes of film just focusing on the Ouija board and this would take up too much of the opening when we needed it to explain more of the plot. Therefore we used several different clips of the Ouija board scene and used very fast cutting rates and lots of different angles and shots to make it seem that they had been there longer.
In a bird’s eye view shot of the girls using the Ouija board which needed to be included to show that the Ouija board actually worked, we used time compression to speed up the movement of the glass to make it seem like a longer duration of time had been spent and also that the spirit which was possessing the board was quick to give reactions. It makes the whole experience seem more dangerous.
We also used editing to cut from the girl in the bathroom and the murder scene. These short and sharp cuts meant that we were able to get more footage in to a short amount of time. It also meant that you could see the girls distress in between the snippets of the murder and it gives the idea that she was getting the vision in small parts.
Continuity editing is also important in every film. An example of this continuity editing is our shot of the girl reaching up towards the bathroom light and then the next shot of just her hand pulling the chord. This was cut and put together at just the right time for the audience to believe that this was one smooth action instead of two separate shots. Colour
In horror colour is a very important factor. For example we thought carefully about the idea of blood and how to make it stand out from other features in the shot. We found that the best way was to have the red blood on the girls finger against a white bathroom sink.
As discussed earlier, we used black and white colour theme for the murder scenes. This made it seem more mysterious and gave the idea that it was somewhere else and at another time. It was very important to distinguish between the two places so that it is obvious that she is having a vision.
In comparison, the girl in the bathroom is in full colour which is a direct contrast to the murder scene. However, although she was in full colour, this was still fairly dark, because if it was too light it would not have created the same sense of mystery and would have seemed too happy and this is not a convention of horror films.
Visual techniques
When filming we experimented a lot with lighting, we wanted to make sure it was light enough for the camera to pick up everything including all colours, but did not want it to be too light because this would take away the gloomy and mysterious feel to it.
It was also important to make sure that the lighting used was appropriate to the time of day. For example the lighting was quite dark when she wakes up in the morning because we wanted it to seem very early in the morning so that it seemed a little more unnatural than getting up when it is bright and sunny.
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