Question 1:

Q1- In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

Throughout the production of Indelible there were many codes and conventions we used, developed and challenged. We created a short horror film called ‘Indelible’ aimed at teenagers and young adults. The subgenre was psychological/ supernatural. The movie is based on a young girl named ‘Madeline’ who in the past has been though a traumatic procedure. Madeline then experiences flashbacks which are triggered by a doll which she rediscovers whilst unpacking at her new adopted home. She then slowly gives into the evil and at the end of the film hints to the audience that FGM will be repeated on the new girl, Samantha, that is going to be adopted by leaving her a note. Alongside the short film, my group and I had also created a poster and radio trailer to promote the film.

During the planning of the radio trailer, my group and I ensured that we had researched into the codes and conventions of a typical radio trailer. We had analysed films with the subgenre psychological or supernatural such as Mother (2017) to see what codes and conventions they had challenged and conformed. In our radio trailer we had added sound effects such as screams, which are conventional for horror films. Through the use of sound effects our audience were able to gain a sense of what’s happening. An example of a convention we had adhered to in our radio trailer is our use of screams. Screams are conventional for the horror genre as they invoke a sense of panic and fear in the audience. For example in trailer of Orphan 2009 they used screams to build up the intensity of tension so as an audience we are intrigued into what happens next. In our radio trailer we also had layered sound effects, we had whispers saying ‘purify’, ‘innocence’ and ‘sin’. This hinted to the audience that someone in the film will be hurt and it is with the intention of preserving their purity and innocence.

We had challenged conventions through the use of an anachronic narrative as our film consisted of non-linear flashbacks to hint to the audience of the trauma Madeline has gone through. Our film had started with a disequilibrium and at the end had also finished with a disequilibrium. Indelible had therefore challenged Todorov’s equilibrium theory as normality was not restored at the end of the film. Films such as Conjuring 2013 had followed the order of ‘equilibrium, disequlibrium and equilibrium’ and therefore conforms to Todorov’s equilibrium theory.

First of all, my group and I had adhered to conventions when creating our short film as we had decided to have a young female protagonist. Similar to the film Orphan 2009 as they also had a young, female main character. It is conventional to have young females to play the protagonist as they are vulnerable and weak. However, towards the end of the film we had challenged this convention as we had Madeline the protagonist later turn into the antagonist, creating the impression of a false hero. This created a twist for the audience and also supported Barthes enigma code.

During my research I had analysed numerous film posters with the same subgenre as Indelible. For example I analysed the film poster of Sinister. This film poster uses the conventional horror colours grey, black and red. It is conventional for horror films to use dark and dull colours, so in my film poster I had conformed to conventions and used the colour red to signify blood and white to symbolise purity and the colour black. These colours foreshadow to the audience that something will happen to our main character.

Also our film supports Propps theory of 8 stock characters. This is because in our film we have Madeline who is the hero and she goes through a traumatic event and carries on. We also have the villain who is the man performing the FGM on Madeline. However, at the same time our film challenges Propps theory as in our movie the hero, Madeline, later turns into the villain.

In our film we paid tribute to Quentin Tarantino films as we had several shots of Madelines feet when walking in the corridor and during the surgery scene. Similarly in the film Kill Bill there us a scene of Uma Thurnam walking down the hospital corridor barefoot connoting her vulnerability.