Evaluation: In what ways does the product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

Forms and conventions define a genre, thus creating expectations that contribute to audience pleasures. The horror genre, with psychological horror as a sub-genre, has unique conventions that make it distinguishable from other genres. In order to understand these unique forms and conventions of horror films, I conducted some research before carrying out my production - in particular, I researched the conventions of my chosen genre, which was psychological.

 

In my research, I discovered that psychological films differ greatly from the average slasher film. In my personal opinion, I believe this is why I chose to make a short film of the psychological genre - it's different and unconventional, which I like. In a typical slasher, the source of fear is usually derived from the creatures, monsters or serial killers that are present - however, with psychological horror, discomfort is created by exposing common psychological and emotional vulnerabilities, and by revealing the darker parts of the human psyche that most people may repress or deny. The typical conventions for a psychological horror are featured below:

 

Conventions:

• rely on character's beliefs, fears and other hidden truths about the character/what they have done
• expose the evil that hides behind normality
• paranormal elements.
• the antagonist will appear normal as there aren't any physical signs of their psychological disorder.
• lack of weapons - the antagonist's twisted mind is used to frighten the victims. Visions, 'jumpy' moments etc. are used instead of physical weapons such as guns and knives.
• Setting: big houses, woodland locations, warehouses, schools, and hospitals. These all create a sense of realism, and therefore increase fear for the audience as they can picture themselves in the position of the victims.
• flashbacks to inform the audience of why the antagonist has reached such a state
• contrapuntal sound is often used
• the use of children as killers is common.
• complex plots - may contain a plot twist.

Throughout my media product, my group and I have included many of the forms and conventions featured above. However, we did exclude some of them in order to create a desired effect. As I mentioned before, the psychological genre relies on universal fears to frighten and unsettle its audience, and will often expose the evil behind normality. One of the most notable features of a psychological horror film is that the antagonist will appear normal as there aren't any physical signs to their psychological disorder. However, regarding Matryoshka, I could argue that my group and I have challenged this convention in some way as there isn't an obvious antagonist in our film. I believe that the true antagonist is Grey's Dissociative Identity Disorder, and this was our way of exposing the evil that hides behind normality. In reality, everyone has a mental health, and sometimes there may be an evil that hides behind it. Yes, Grey kills the other characters in the film, but the audience soon learn of his condition, and how the other characters were not real people - they simply represented each of Grey's different identities. Therefore, the audience sympathise for Grey as he ends up killing himself when he kills the other characters.

 

Common locations for a psychological horror include hospitals, forests and big houses as they all create a sense of realism, thus eliciting huge amounts of fear from viewers as they can easily picture themselves in the position of the characters in the film. For Matryoshka, we chose to shoot the film in the area in which one of us lived.

 

Also, Matryoshka features a plot twist - a popular technique used in psychological horror - in which Grey ends up killing the other characters in the film for no apparent reason. However, we do find out his reasons for doing so in the final scene of the film when a psychologist tells Grey's mother of his condition, months before the events that occurred during the rest of the film. The final scene makes the surprise ending even more twisted as it informs the audience that the people who Grey killed were not real, and that by killing them, Grey killed himself as they were parts of his personality. My favourite plot twist ever would have to be from the film Orphan, in which a family adopt a 9-year old girl, who is revealed to actually be a 33-year old woman who has a rare disease which makes her look a child.

Deconstruction of film

Camerawork

Throughout Matryoshka, we used lots of different types of camera work techniques. In particular, there is a continuous use of a range of close up shots. This is quite frustrating for the audience as it restricts their view of the character's surroundings. However, close ups are crucial to storytelling as it shows the most emotion from characters, telling us how they are feeling. For me, I think the use of close up is quite fitting to the film's plot and story as they suggest a claustrophobic quality.

 

As Grey has Dissociative Identity Disorder, the claustrophobic quality is effective as it demonstrates how Grey possibly may feel trapped in his condition, and how he can't escape from each of his different personalities.

 

Another camera shot we used was a handheld tracking shot, which is reminiscent of the famous shot in The Shining, in which the camera follows Danny on his bike.



The Shining

Matryoshka

We didn't want to imitate the exact shot that Stanley Kubrick had in The Shining, so my group and I decided to position our character on the left, and have it more like an over the shoulder shot. Not only does this handheld shot create a sense of reality, making the audience feel more involved, it also creates the impression that the character is being watched or followed.
 
Also, near the end of the film, we made use of a panning shot to show the audience how Grey is alone in the living room, which could suggest how he may have been alone the entire time. The audience are left to think whether or not the other characters were real, or if they were just figments of Grey's imagination/personality.
 

 

 

 
 
 
 
 
Sound and Editing

The use of sound is an aspect of our film in which I am quite happy with as it is very effective, and it is something that our teachers have commented positively on as well. Throughout Matryoshka, we employed the use of several different pieces of non-diegetic music, and at first, it did seem quite jumpy in parts. Consequently, I decided to apply a 'fade in' effect to link all of the music together, ensuring that the film had a good continuity.
 
For the first 3 and half minutes of our film, there is no dialogue; therefore ambient sound is extremely significant as it builds up tension for the audience. We chose to import the song Pleader by Alt-J as it already has a crescendo, making it much easier for us to build the desired tension for the film's narrative. Also, the orchestral strings and Spanish guitar featured in the song is disturbing and somewhat uncomfortable to listen to, emphasising how danger may be imminent.
 
Another song that we made use of was Intruder, which consists of lyrics that really complement the story of Matryoshka. The words "please intruder, exit through the same way you came in" highlight Grey's struggle with his Dissociative Personality Disorder, and his multiple personalities. His condition is truly violating his everyday life, making it difficult for him to form real friendships. It is clear that Grey wants his personalities to "exit" his mind so that he can finally have some peace.
 
The most notable piece of editing in our film would have to be the rewind and the moment just before, when Grey strangles and kills Matryoshka. During this particular scene, there are lots of intentional cuts which are used to unsettle and disturb the audience. For example, there is a cut from a shot of Matryoshka's dead body to Grey choking, indicating how he is dying too. In my opinion, I feel like the editing and sound work really well together here, especially when Matryoshka drops a glass bottle in slow motion, and everything breaks back into regular motion through the sound of the glass bottle smashing. This is really effective, especially as the slow moving glass bottle really grabs the attention of the audience.
 
Furthermore, the use of the rewind felt very original to us as we hadn't seen the editing technique being used in many horror films before. However, as the subgenre of our horror film is psychological, the employment of the rewind really takes on the conventions of the psychological horror genre as it unsettles and distorts the perception of the audience.
 
 
Mise en Scene
My group and I set the mood of our film through the use of costume, location, lighting, composition, props, and of course, the actors.
 
We felt it was extremely important that our use of mise-en-scene influenced an appearance of verisimilitude to reflect the film's message; that everyone can be affected by mental illness. Therefore, we decided to set the film in a suburban area during the day to create a sense of realism. 



Shooting during the day also gave us the advantage of using the natural light, which meant that we didn't have to spend lots of money on expensive lighting. When we shot our original film, we filmed it outside when it was dark so we had to rely on a bonfire to produce light, which wasn't very effective. This is how the original Matryoshka looked before my group and I decided to re-film:

 

 
One could argue that my group and I challenged the forms and conventions of a horror film through our decision to shoot during the day, as we were being unconventional to the horror genre. The theorist Carol Clover suggested that the 'typical place' for a horror location should focus on dark and isolated areas.

 
In relation to costume, I would definitely have to argue that my group and I have challenged the forms and conventions of real media texts. Usually, characters have their own distinctive costumes in film, however, in Matryoshka; this is not the case as each character wears the same red t-shirt. The purpose of our costume arrangement was to bring the Russian doll analogy to life, to demonstrate to the audience how the other characters in the film represent each of Grey's different personalities.

 

 

 
Proximity and composition is also something that we have considered. All of the characters remain within a close proximity in the film, which again delivers an unnerving claustrophobic feel for the audience.

The lack of space between characters in the film may represent to the audience how they are actually all the same person - they form one entity. That, paired with the use of costume, may illuminate to the audience the relationship between the Russian doll prop and Grey's mental illness.
 
Link to theorists and plot devices

• The film sticks closely to Roland Barthes' Narrative codes, with particular focus on the hermeneutic and enigma codes. The hermeneutic code is when the narrative of the film avoids telling the truth, revealing facts, and will drop clues instead. The enigma code is when the narrative builds tension due to the hermeneutic code as the audience is left guessing as to what happens next.
• Typical to films such as Titanic and Pulp Fiction, I have employed the use of a MacGuffin - a plot device popularised by Alfred Hitchcock. The MacGuffin is a convention of psychological horror as it draws attention to certain aspects that are not as they appear on the surface. I incorporated this device in our film through the use of Russian dolls as they are suggestive of Grey's Dissociative Identity Disorder.