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

My horror short film is conventional as a short film in that it has a brisk and simple narrative with some form of resolution at the end. The characters are not usually developed a lot in short films and there is more focus on the narrative and the setting. In my short film the audience can tell that the main protagonist is a young man in a big house due to the establishing shot at the beginning and the audience knows he is along because of the dialogue in the phone call and the fact that he is alone when attaching TV and going to bed. In the middle of my film there is a dilemma in that there appears to be someone else in the house which is the disequilibrium in the piece. The story ends with the main character being attacked and there is suspense because of the uncertainty that has happened, which is quite unconventional because there is usually a solid resolution at the end of typical short films, however my film can leave the audience guessing at whom the Assailant was and what happens to the protagonist.

As a Horror film, it is also quite conventional in that it has suspenseful scenes, mostly in the dark, a protagonist who is under threat and a clear antagonist who appears to be abnormal. As in most Horrors, the story starts with a peaceful setting with the slightest hint of uneasiness which is conveyed in Assailant through the camera angles implicating the main character is being watched and the ominous sounds which get progressively more threatening as the story develops. When its is established that something is not quite right in my film, the suspense truly starts with long shots of darkness which can plant fear in the audience; the audience is familiar with a situation of sheer darkness which prevents them from being totally aware of their surroundings, therefore unsettling them.

What is quite unconventional in Assailant is that there are two attempts at a climax, the first one leads up to an unthreatening situation with the dog, which the audience can also relate to in moments when we think we are in danger because the mind responds badly to darkness. However this anti climax gives the audience false reassurance which makes the second climax more effective and the sudden return to suspense (With the slamming of the door) more shocking. The true climax also aims to be unconventional in that it is not as predictable as the usual shocks seen in horror films, where the enemy would probably be waiting for them at the end of a corridor or inside the room. The audience is shocked by the abrupt appearance of the antagonist from behind the protagonist because the editing and the camera angles suggest the main character is about to investigate something. The film cuts out before the audience sees what happens to the protagonist which is again quite conventional because most horror films have some sort of epilogue. Lastly the film is not very conventional in that the main antagonist is not seen and could therefore be anything from a normal home invader to a shadowy spectre; the news report subtly hints at a mass murderer being on the loose which suggests that the Assailant could be some sort of psychopath on a murdering streak.