Evaluation question 1

Evaluation Question 1

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

Genre conventions: A genre convention is a typical or standard trope of plot, character, setting, icon, theme, or effect in a genre story. For instance, in a thriller, a typical convention would be a gun or a dead body. They are what makes a thriller a thriller, and will be seen in all three of the comparison products.

Our final product: Kuru Our final product is a thriller with sub-genres of gore and psychopathy. With these sub-genres we should be comparing our film to products with similar genres, narratives, mise-en-scene and characters.

The three products I have chosen to compare my thriller to are:

1) Sweeney Todd Produced by: John Logan, Walter Parkes, Richard D. Zanuck and Laurie MacdonaldDirected by: Tim Burton Released: 10th January 2008 Cast: Johnny Depp, Helena Bonham Carter etc.

FILM

2) Supernatural: Time is on my sideProduced by: Eric Kripke, Robert Singer, David Nutter, Kim Manners, John Shiban, Phil Sgriccia, Sera Gamble, Ben Edlund, Jeremy Carver, Jim Michaels, Todd Aronauer, Adam Glass, Andrew Dabb, Brad Buckner, Eugenie Ross-LemingDirected by: McG, David Nutter, Michael Rohl, Phillip Sgriccia, Robert SingerReleased: 13th September 2005

TV SHOW

3) Outlast: The Whistle BlowerDavid Chateauneuf, Hugo Dallaire Writer: J.T. Petty (as JT Petty) Stars: Shawn Baichoo, Chimwemwe Miller, Andreas Apergis

VIDEO GAME

Sweeney Todd

PRESS PLAY

Sweeney Todd Plotline: Both films involve some type of trade, i.e. our thriller involves disposing of bodies for gangs for money, and Sweeney Todd, involves turning bodies into meat pies.Both take everyday jobs (butchers and barbers) and turn them into a way of committing horrific crimes. Both films are thrillers. The genre of both films are very similar, however Sweeney Todd is the film of the musical and so contains singing and dance and elements of dark comedy which are very dissimilar to our thriller.Both have a gory, cannibalistic element.

Characters: Both have a psychopathic male as a lead role. Sweeney and our butcher both look old, dirty, ragged. Different eras, but each still looks dirty, fitting the psychopathic role.Both have well known jobs.

Action that takes place in the films: Both films use knifes in a gruesome way.Sweeney uses a barbers knife to stab one of his customers. It becomes very gory as you see his blood spurting everywhere, which is uncomfortable but also entertaining for audiences. This is similar to the knife our butcher uses when he is about to cut up the dead body, this gives the same uncomfortable effect on the audience.

Action that takes place in the films: Mrs Luvitt makes human pies in Sweeney Todd which is similar to our butcher making human meat. This is very uncomfortable and disturbing for audiences as cannibalism is consdidered a taboo.

Editing techniques: Sweeney Todds opening sequence is an animation which is slow paced and establishes the location and era of the film. They use panning and zooming in and out to make the sequence more entertaining for the audience. There is animated blood dripping over shots of different settings and items, its movement required special platforms/effects to imitate real blood. The blood gave conventions of a thriller and therefore foreshadowed what the rest of the film was about. The animation also gave a comical feel. This opening sequence definitely differentiates from our thriller, however our sequence is still effective in establishing location due to the shot of the butchers shop at the end. Our editing has fast jump cuts, which contrasts with Sweeney Todd in terms of the fast pace, but are mildly used in Sweeney Todd as they jump from item to item. They are both effective as they show a regular process which is eerie and weird for audiences.

Camera techniques: In Sweeney Todd, using animation makes it easier to have more non- naturalistic shots and angles whilst keeping continuity. They used close-ups, birds eye, zooms in and out, long shots, mid shots etc. In our thriller, we used similar shots to Sweeney Todd, i.e. close ups, mid shots, long shots etc. However, continuity was visibly less in our thriller as we had to edit our shots together, in Sweeney Todd the animation meant that no transitions were needed.

Mise-en-scene:In Sweeney Todd, the colours are very dull and almost look black and white. The setting is very old fashioned.In our thriller, dim lighting is used for the butchers scene which could be considered quite similar to Sweeney Todd. However, in the scene outside, brighter colours are used. Also, our thriller is set in todays times, meaning that our mise-en-scene looks far more modern than Sweeney Todd.

Supernatural: Time is on my side

Plotline: This particular episode of Supernatural tells the story of a 19th-century surgeon calledDoc Bentonwho found a way to live forever by replacing organs the moment they stopped working.This plotline is vaguely similar to our thriller as ours also has a male lead who is a butcher, which is a similar job to a surgeon. They both cut up bodies in order to live, however our butcher living through money, the surgeon a little more drastic as he wants to live forever. In terms of genre, they are similar as both are gory thrillers/horrors, with Supernatural having the genres of action, mystery and fantasy too.Both contain themes of blood, gore and violence.

Characters:The 19th century surgeon can be compared to our butcher as they both are trained surgically and spend their time cutting up humans, although for different motives. Their characteristics are quite similar, both being psychopathic and taking their jobs very seriously. There is a difference in era between our butcher and the surgeon, our butcher is living in modern day so that it can become speculative fiction and transform the fears of our generation into reality on screen.

The action that takes place in the film: Similar action takes place in both products. In Supernatural, the surgeon cuts up several different people, taking out various body parts in the name of science. This is far more gruesome than our thriller as you actually see the various body parts being taken out. This vulgar aspect makes Ours was less gruesome, but still effective, it left more details to the audiences imagination, creating more of a disturbing, long build up, rather than being purely gruesome.

Editing techniques: Both products are fast paced.Both use special , ours to a much lesser extent, blood dripping from the dead bodies nose. In Supernatural, the special effects are much gorier. We see the surgeon taking a heart out of a body, maggots eating human flesh etc.

Camera techniques: In Supernatural, many close ups are used on body features and of the surgeons face. This is very similar to our thriller as most of our shots within the butchers are close ups. This is to help disorientate the audience so that the time and place arent clear, therefore creating discomfort for the audience as they dont quite understand what is happening.

Mise en scene: In Supernatural, the mise-en-scene, in particular the setting, is old fashioned, quite wooden, with warm but dim lighting, appearing to be very messy. Our thriller has the similar dim lighting, however is in a modern setting so has more metal than wood, with colder lighting.

Outlast: The Whistle Blower

Plotline: A video game where you play as Waylon Park who, after witnessing what was going on inside Mount Massive Asylum, e-mails journalists around the world, exposing Murkoff Corporation. But Murkoff takes its revenge, and throws him in the midst of the Mount Massive Slaughter, where the most deranged of patients escape, and try to kill Waylon. Along the way you meet a cannibal who is cutting up a human on a table, which is very similar to our thriller.

Characters: The cannibal is clearly mental and has no control over his actions.This differentiates with our butcher as he has more reason behind cutting up bodies, and hes certainly not a cannibal himself.

The action that takes place:In the game we basically become immersed in a mental asylum where there are various abnormal characters within. We see the whistle blower, with the body on a metal table, cutting up the body, which is the most similar part to our thriller. We also see several doctors surrounding a body on a table in a lab.Both are very similar to our thriller.

Editing techniques:Lots of jump scares are used in the video game which we dont use in our thriller. However, this is clearly to keep the player involved and thrilled by the game. Our product has more of a long build up and creates a realisation within the audience rather than using jump scares. The game is also from a point of view perspective, making the jump scares more effective and also making the game far easier to play. Also, the game is clearly animated, whereas our thriller is real life.

Camera techniques: In Outlast, we see a long shot of the whistle blower leaning over body, this makes the setting clearer to see, but also, being a video game, shows that player cannot and should not get too close.In Outlast there are not many different shots used at all as it is all from point of view. Differentiates from our thriller which uses many close ups and a variety of shots.

Mise-en-scene:The most similar idea between our thriller and Outlast is the setting. Unlike the other two comparison products, Outlast is more futuristic and so more similar in era to our thriller. The metal tables are the same etc.

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