1. In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?
The Psychological Genre
This particular genre has steadily become more and more popular and makes it more interesting for the audience as it takes on a mental aspect for the characters. It usually contains bits of drama and mystery which also overlaps the horror genre. The characters seem to face mental battles as opposed to physical ones so the film is mostly centred on one or two characters being preyed on mentally by something and finding it in their selves to overcome the problem at the end of the film. The most recurrent themes in this particular genre are Death and Reality.
The Psychological Genre in 'Evanescent'
In the short film, I incorporated this idea of someone or something preying on the main character's mind, but at the end, I have purposely left it unclear for the audience so they can make up their minds as to whether this 'ghost' was in the main character's mind or not. Like a normal convention of this genre, I have included the the themes of Death and Reality and the blurred lines between reality and imaginary, especially in the mind of Paloma. I also think my short film develops the codes and conventions of the genre by adding quick edits and different types of camera angles for the audience to get a sense of fear and shock.
Example of quick edit and cross cut in Evanescent, you can see the fading from one cut to the other at the beginning of the film;
And below is a moving example of the cross cut in the short film and how one scene fades to another to create tension and suspense.
I think the music as well gives the audience an emotional response and successfully leaves them feeling at the edge of their feet. The soundtrack was royalty free music and was called 'Evening of Chaos' This is what it sounds like;
The flashback also shows the past and gives the audience an insight into why the characters are the way they are now and Rosalie's death came about and find out whether it was just a random stabbing, a wrong time wrong place situation or was it something more sinister?
Length of the short film
Usually, short films can be between 1-20 minutes long, my short film was just shy of 3 minutes. 2 minutes 48 seconds precisely. The audience can tell it's a short film by the length.
The Narrative in Short films
Storylines are usually kept simple and easy to understand so narrative is generally condensed with little dialogue if any.Due to short films being only a few minutes long, the development time of the characters needs to be quick in order for the audience to understand the narrative. The music is also used to set the mood and atmosphere quicker than the character's dialogue as there is so little time to establish a narrative. Short film narratives also normally includes twists and turns in order to make the short film more interesting, due to the length of the film. Or have something memorable happen to give the audience an unforgettable experience.
Narrative in 'Evanesent'
So in Evanescent, I focused on Claude Levi Strauss' narrative theory which is all about binary opposites, you have Paloma, who is alive and nice and then you have the stark contrast in the dead best friend, Rosalie, who is dead and vengeful, trying to spite Paloma for not doing all she can to save her when she could have. The plot twist I included in the end also adheres to the typical codes and conventions of short films, at the end, the audience are left thinking whether Rosalie is real or a manifestation of Paloma's mind, which also adheres to the codes and convention of the psychological thriller. I also focused on Tzetan Todorov and his narrative theory which is about states of equilibrium and disequilibrium, however normally at the end of films, the equilibrium goes back to normal but I have deliberately left the equilibrium not being restored at the end of the short film in order to keep the audience entertained and at the edge of their seats.
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