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

Our film 'Cataclysm' is an Action Horror film, set in the days and weeks after a deadly radiation leak has affected all surrounding towns and cities and resulting and many people dying. The army is called in to assess the situation, calculate the death tolls and evacuate all those fortunate enough to survive the ordeal. However, unknown to the army, some people took in so much radiation that they became mutated, feeding on the flesh of those still walking. Sgt. Murray, despite his low rank in the army, prevails as the lead in this operation and battle against the mutants.

Our opening sequence needed to clearly convey our sub-genre of Action Horror and due to it being a very specialised genre, we needed to follow and use conventions of real films and opening sequences to make it apparent what our genre is right from the start. The only other film that we could think of that fits into the same genre as our film is I Am Legend
(Lawrence, 2007).

As in the trailer above, from 1:10-1:12, there is a sense of the unknown, where you can hear the noises of the beast, but can't see it. This is a very typical convention within Horror and Action films and is something the audience is used to seeing. This helped us a lot as not only could we build up tension and follow form very easily, but it allowed us to avoid including an actual sighting of the antagonist.

Another film that I found influential was Green Zone (Greengrass, 2010). A scene from the opening sequence features many of the characters gearing up in army gear and gas masks. This triggered the whole idea of our film and helped us come up with the idea for it.

 The sound used in our sequence was key to keeping our sequence within the genre that we wanted it. The tension building soundtrack, consisting of drumbeats, acoustic and choir voices, was the key element that we used to create a foreboding atmosphere and stick to conventions. This caused the audience to expect something to   happen, but not be able to work out what, still keeping the element of surprise.
 When we were shooting, although we needed to stick to conventions, we also wished to break the traditional conventions of darkness within horror products and used an environment that was bright, outside and sunny. This broke the typical form of a horror film and therefore, shows to the audience that there is something different, but as said above, the music still emphasises the genre. Although the location we used was open, the effect we used to wash out our shots cancelled the colour of the sky, however, it is still open and bright.

Todorov’s narrative structure theory shows a progression in the movement from equilibrium, to disruption and then back to equilibrium. It is applicable to our opening sequence. Below is a diagram of his theory, and how I applied it to our opening sequence.


Todorov


Levi Strauss's theory of binary opposites definitely applies to our opening sequence. The binary opposites that appear within our opening sequence are:

• Known vs. Unknown - This is most probably the biggest pair of opposites within our opening sequence. The most obvious example of this is the Soldier and Forensics against the beast. We have close ups of the characters, but only ever see the beast's POV. Another example of this is the first 20-30 seconds of the opening sequence. The soldier is unknown at this point, due to the gas mask and helmet but the once removed, we get close ups of his face. Again, this is something that is in most, if not all, horrors.
• Silence vs. Loud - Although we have a soundtrack playing throughout the whole opening sequence, there are parts when it is quiet and these completely contrast with the drumbeats towards the end of the opening sequence.

Propp's character theory is applicable to our film as a whole, but only a couple of the characters are in the opening sequence.

• The villain who struggles against the hero - In our opening sequence, it is the beast. However, in our whole film, the whole group of mutants are the villains.
• The dispatcher who sends the hero off - The commander who our main character speaks to in the opening sequence through the radio works as the dispatcher in our film.
• The helper who helps the hero in the quest - This would be the fellow soldiers who also fight in the battle against the mutants.
• The princess who the hero deserves throughout the story - In the evacuation of the surronding towns, the soilder meets a young girl called Elizabeth who is taken by the mutants as a way of hostage.
• The father who gives the task to the hero - This is not clearly distinguished in our film, as it isn't in most other films either.
• The donor who prepares the hero - As with the father, this isn't clearly distinguished in our film.
• The hero who seeks equilbrium - This is Sergant Murray, the soldier who prevails in the fight against the mutants.
• The false hero who take credit for the hero's actions - The soilder in the opening sequence can be seen as the false hero as we would expect him to be main character before he is killed.

We can test this theory against the narrative structure of Action film, The Dark Knight.