In what ways does your media produ ct use, develop or challenge forms and conventions ofreal media products?Real Media Products 1)2) 3) 4) 5) 6) 7) 8) Our Media Product1)2) 3) 4) 5) 6) 7) 8) 9) Our media product conforms and subverts the conventions of real media products through the psychological thriller genre as the narrative is not stereotypi cal of this genre as usually in this genre of film the protagonist typically allows herself to be placed i nto vulnerable situations ultimately resulting in psychological deterioration. However in our case, the drugs are the central cause of her psychological turmoil, therefore it is the drugs not the situation that renders her a vulnerable victim. Furthermore, our media product challenges conventions of the psychological thriller genre through the involvement ofromance within the narrative allowing the audience to relate to the theme, shown in screen grab number 1 on our media product. Despite this not being t he stereotypica l psychological thriller conventions, “Love is the Drug” demonstrates loves as a counterpart to the drugs, highlighting that love can influence you to d o things that you wou ldn’t think you were capable of, this is evident in screen grab number eight of real media products. However, our
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Media Products - Use, Challenge and Develop Forms and Conventions - Screen Grabs
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8/2/2019 Media Products - Use, Challenge and Develop Forms and Conventions - Screen Grabs
stereotypical psychological thrillers, the setting is usually in an ordinary suburban setting
and desolate areas to enhance the vulnerability of the female victims.
When focusing on the construction of the female character we decided to conform to the
stereotypical ‘trembling victim’ as most psychological thrillers construct the female
character as complicit and vulnerable, they are also purposely made to make mistakes that
fundamentally lead to their downfall into psychological turmoil – in our case her taking the
drugs. Furthermore, the male character is constructed to conform to the conventions of the
psychological thriller genre as without the presence of the male, there would be no
manipulation of the female character and consequently no deterioration, therefore we
constructed the characters to conform to a psychological thriller and create tension within
the audience. The construction of our character helped us to execute the genre of a
psychological thriller as the male character maintained qualities of a Byronic Hero as he
seems to be charming on the outside yet manipulative on the inside, highlighting the binary
opposition of appearance vs. reality and the concept of “looks can be deceiving.” This is
demonstrated in screen grab number five of our media product. Furthermore, the
appearance of the female character challenges the conventions of the psychological thriller
as typically the female victims are of a Caucasian ethnicity, however in our media product
the female is of mixed ethnicity therefore transgressing traditional boundaries. Additionally,
in real media products the female character is typically a “girlie girl” and we subvert this by
constructing the character to have short boyish hair and clothes that are not stereotypical of
females.
Costumes and props as I have mentioned previously both challenges and develops forms
and conventions of real media products. For example in many psychological thrillers employ
phones as a predominant part of the narrative, this is demonstrated in “Se7en” as it
provided the audience with suspense as he was told on the phone “not to look in the box” –
a vital part of the narrative. Furthermore, the style of the female character is crazy and
unique, which to an extent subverts the typical vulnerable victim who wears make up to try
and conceal the façade of vulnerability, evidenced in screen grab four of our media product.
However, our costumes conformed to the forms and conventions through the male
character’s style as he dressed normally, fitting in with the ‘fashion’ deceptively fooling
others with his charismatic style used as a concealment of what lies beneath. This isdemonstrated in “Orphan” (screen grab number three of real media products) where she
8/2/2019 Media Products - Use, Challenge and Develop Forms and Conventions - Screen Grabs
dresses up as a child to mask her true character of middle aged woman, creating suspense
and confusing the audience. Moreover, the drug props were a fundamental part of our
media product that challenges forms and conventions as it is usually a bad event that
triggers the female’s spiral into psychological instability but in our media product the drugs
are the cause of her downfall. Furthermore, the drugs are essential in creating narrative
enigma seeing as it is the main cause for the binary opposition of fantasy vs. reality that
enhances the tension and intrigue of the narrative.
The special effects employed in the trailer (the blurry effect), this is used to accentuate
the turning point of the narrative, showing the deterioration of her psychological state. This
employs the conventional psychological thriller genre as they use the blurry effect to
demonstrate the vulnerability of the female and her fragmented mental state. Moreover,
the “fade to blacks” used demonstrates the loss of her former self to the negative effects of
drugs and this is shown in many psychological thrillers such as “Black Swan” (screen number
four of real media products) where they are used a lot to highlight her emotional and
psychological state, presenting audiences with the enjoyment of a stereotypical,
suspenseful thriller. The quick cuts used by us conformed to real media products that create
a climax by utilising these effects to enhance the tension within the narrative. Initially, we
attempted only to use “cross dissolves” but we felt it didn’t correspond with the thrilling
circumstances in the narrative, so we changed it to the “fade to blacks” highlighted in
screen grab six of our media product, so the audience was able to recognise the turning
point or the change in mood of the trailer, discovering the change in the protagonist’s
behaviour.
The titles we used challenged titles of trailers from this specific genre as we used a simple
font to demonstrate the binary opposition of appearance vs. reality as it suggests that
although it looks simple there is something malicious behind the beauty of its simplicity, this
is demonstrated through screen grab seven of our media product. This is dissimilar to
trailers such as “Black Swan” where the font of the title corresponds noticeably with the
narrative, allowing the audience to link the narrative and the font together whereas our
product encourages the audience to work out the association, this shown in screen grab five
of real media products. Furthermore, the positioning of the title in our trailer uses the forms
and conventions of trailers from this specific genre as similarly to other products such as“The Stepfather” the title is placed at the end of the trailer this enables us to be held in
8/2/2019 Media Products - Use, Challenge and Develop Forms and Conventions - Screen Grabs
suspense due to the compelling question that is typical of the majority of trailers in this
genre “who did it” and the title allows us to mislead the audience to believe that the male
was the fundamental cause of the female’s psychological state. The institutional information
employed in our trailer uses the forms and conventions of trailers from this specific genre by
appearing after the main title which is stereotypical of the psychological thriller,
demonstrated through “Orphan” where the institutional information appears instantly after
the title enabling the audience to ponder upon the outcome of the trailer and creating
suspense through the quick cuts and the instantaneous appearances of titles and
institutional information. Furthermore, the inclusion of the institutional information itself
enables it to conform to the conventions of a trailer in general making it appear more
professional, intriguing the audience as a result.
The structure of our trailer is reminiscent of Freytag’s narrative pyramid and uses the
forms and conventions of real media products such as “Black Swan” where the exposition of
the trailer demonstrates the equilibrium, in our case the joy of moving house, meeting the
boy and falling in love, (screen grab number eight of our media product) similar to “Black
Swan” where she is enjoying her life as a professional ballerina, highlighted in screen grab
six of real media products. Then as the trailer progresses (as stereotypical of all trailers)
there is a climatic point of the trailer where the attitudes and behaviours of the main
protagonist changes, creating a state of disequilibrium. This is evident again in “Black Swan”
as the pace of the editing increases and the music becomes more intense, creating tension
and suspense within the audience (screen grab seven of real media products). The state of
disequilibrium is also amplified through the blurry effects utilised, accentuating the change
in mood of the trailer demonstrating the deterioration of the protagonist’s psychological
state. However, there does not seem to be a resolution to any of the problems faced by the
protagonist highlighted in the trailer, which is similar to real media products such as “Black
Swan.”
Initially, within our media product we attempted to use music to accentuate the turning
point and the change in mood of the trailer, but the original music we chose “A Team by Ed
Sheeran” did not correspond with the bleak circumstances such as the moment where the
drugs begin to take effect, this would have challenged the conventions of a trailer as the
audience would not have been able to establish the turning point. However, we changedand developed the music to conform to other media products and trailers who employ
8/2/2019 Media Products - Use, Challenge and Develop Forms and Conventions - Screen Grabs