Evaluation question 1

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

Titles

To begin with, for our titles, we decided to make full effective use of the conventions passed down throughout the Thriller genre. This is demonstrated with the font that we use for the titles. The font itself is a very simple, straightforward and bold. This alongside the fact the text is all in white, with the main title background being dark is a convention which is used greatly in the Thriller genre, as it demonstrates the sinister and suspenseful themes that are found normally in Thrillers

and in this case, our opening sequence. Music also plays a factor in the titles with conventions, however, as a group we agreed challenge the normal conventions. In our opening sequence, the title slowly appears into the scene towards the end, with no music playing at all. However it is common to find that the music reaches its loudest as the main titles play at the end. We decided against this, as we felt the quiet nature would create a much deeper tone of suspense for the audience, as well as the fact it also fit the of the sequence, in which the antagonists hand grabs the victim and the scene and music stop completely and fade into black to create mystery

Comparison to Thriller

Inception The path of descent

Lighting

Within our product, we make effective use of lighting in order to generate the desired tones dependent on certain characters and locations. In order to generate this effect, we began to follow the many different conventions surrounding lighting, whilst also developing them in order to produce the different moods

To begin with, scenes which demonstrate the antagonist are darkened and colour corrected to create a depressing and lifeless feel. These tones and emotions are supposed to reflect upon the antagonist, demonstrating his personality as dark and inhuman, presenting to the audience as out of touch with humanity. This is a convention of the Thriller genre, as the antagonist is normally given these traits, but the audience will discover this through the lighting that surrounds him, with darker colours suggesting evil

However, for the victim, the shots are much brighter but still washed out in colour correction. This is too demonstrate that the victim is only a young, innocent girl (brighter lighting), but her innocence has been removed by kidnaping (washed away colours)

It is conventional to demonstrate the victim being innocent through brighter colours, however it is less conventional to show that the victim has lost their innocence, showing we challenged convention

Comparison to Thriller

The dark night The path of descent

Location

The setting/location aspect was an important one to follow, as it was one in which could really bring the opening sequence to life by generating more realism. So, it was decided as a group that we would follow the conventions found within other variations of Thriller films. After analysing our locations, it was decided as a group that we would use a small building of flats that one of our group members had access too, as well as a wooded area quite local to those flats. The flats were chosen to match the conventions, as it is noticeable that Action Thrillers use locations, of which the audience can recognise, due to the fact the audience is able to relate more with that location, allowing them to feel a greater connection with the film

For the woodland area, we wished to use somewhere which the audience would feel the victim is in a safe location, so a bright woodland area made the suitable area, as it has links to being tranquil and almost heaven-like. This can be found in many Horror Thrillers in order to create a false perception that the victim is safe when in reality, they are not

Comparison to Thriller

The path of descentLimitless

Costume and props

Many different conventions surrounding costume and props can be discovered throughout the history of the Thriller genre. For our opening sequence, it is noticeable that we take a hold of these conventions to help build up the characters and tones without explanation. Two examples of costume that can be found to use these conventions are the antagonists and the victims. The antagonist wears all black throughout all of the opening sequence, which is used to not only create a mystery to his identity, but to also demonstrate their evil, twisted and dark mind, as black has connotations to these ideas

The victim on the other hand wears much brighter, stylised clothing which takes action of a white top. The stylish clothing was chosen in order to demonstrate that they are younger, as these too have links to each other. The white however drives towards demonstrating the innocence of the victim, of which young and female are both ideas which link towards innocence

Moving onto props, one piece of equipment which stands out amongst the others is the knife, wielded by the antagonist. The item is normally linked to death, murder and violence, which then allows films to only show the object in order for the audience to have ideas of what themes will occur in the film. It is common for props such as weapons to be included in Thriller films, as many Thrillers are include themes of violence. In our piece, we decided to utilise the knife to suggest that violence will occur later in the film

Comparison to Thriller

The path of descentPsycho

Story

For our media piece, we decided to choose a story line that would match the genre, so we began to analyse the conventions of the genre. The idea of girls being kidnapped are themes that link to the Thriller genre, as they are ones which bring tension and fear. The victim being a woman is also a convention, as they are typically seen as weaker and in need of help. The psychopathic antagonist is a convention also, as it is easy to portray someone as a villain who is almost inhuman and mentally unstable

The way they are introduced is also conventional, as the antagonist is never fully revealed, which is done to create mystery upon the character as well as create a distance with the audience. The victim however is revealed straight away in order for the audience to connect with her more and want her escape

Comparison to Thriller

Se7en (hidden antagonist) The path of descent

Special effects

In some of our shots, it is noticeable that there are special effects being used in certain shots that feature the antagonist. Well, this is in fact a convention we followed from more modern psychological Thriller films, as they are normally placed in to demonstrate an unstable state of mind. We did this for our antagonist to demonstrate to the audience how unstable their mind is without a description, but instead visuals

Comparison to Thriller

Se7en The path of descent

Camerawork

For our media piece, we decide to take full advantage of media conventions of camerawork in order to cerate different tones and emotions in certain scenes and shots. To begin with, the scene where the victim is escaping the flat through the door uses a canted angle. This was chosen by us as this angle is used to create a feeling of distortion and confusion, of which we represent the victim being distressed, confused and distorted as she tries to escape

Another way camera angles were used to create different atmospheres was for the antagonist. Almost all the shots shown in the antagonist scenes are close ups of certain actions. Typically, this is done to put the focus on certain items or actions, of which we wanted the focus on the actions rather than the antagonist to keep their identity a mystery to the audience, which both follows the conventions of the antagonists identity remaining a mystery and the use of close up’s to pin-point the audiences focus

Comparison to Thriller

The Third man The path of descent

Editing

Many media conventions were used and even challenged during the editing process of our media piece. For example, the pacing of the shots is quick, making each shot only last for a couple of seconds. This is a common convention of Thriller, as it creates a mysterious and suspenseful atmosphere as the audiences tries to understand what is happening in the shots. We took on board this convention in order to generate the suspenseful atmosphere as the victim is trying to escape, making it appear as if she is under a theoretical time limit to escape, of which the audience feels suspense as they hope the victim escapes

We also utilise other conventions but develop them instead. For example, as the victim is escaping, specifically when she is running down the stairs, the shots change repeatedly from the victim running to the antagonist cleaning up. It is common for Thrillers to use cross cutting of two different characters, but this is normally done in order to show certain scenes, for example, a chase scene that has both characters moving at the same speed to create suspense and tension. We, however, use cross cutting to show the faced paced movement of the victim and the slow, steady cleaning of the antagonist to create a juxtaposition

Comparison to Thriller

The path of descent

Inception