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In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of
real media products?
Real Media Products
1) 2) 3) 4)
5) 6) 7) 8)
Our Media Product
1) 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 stereotypical of this genre as
usually in this genre of film the protagonist typically allows herself to be placed into
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 of
romance 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 the stereotypical psychological
thriller conventions, “Love is the Drug” demonstrates loves as a counterpart to the drugs,
highlighting that love can influence you to do things that you wouldn’t think you were
capable of, this is evident in screen grab number eight of real media products. However, our
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product develops this by accentuating the power and influence leading to psychological
deterioration; challenging the stereotypical psychological thriller genre.
Furthermore, our media product presents the recurring binary opposition of fantasy vs.
reality, conforming to the psychological thriller genre due to the fact that the audience are
unable to establish whether the protagonist is in fact hallucinating these events or whether
these experiences are truly taking place; blurring the boundaries of what is known and
unknown. Additionally, this is demonstrated in “Requiem for a Dream” (screen grab number
one of real media products) which we constructed some of our product on, uses this binary
opposition through the potential fantasies of the characters within the film because as the
audience you are unaware of what is in fact real, creating suspense. Our media product
attempts to develop and reinforce this idea of fantasy and authenticity to highlight the
psychological turmoil, creating a sense of confusion demonstrated through the use of the
blurred effect after the consumption of the drugs demonstrated in screen grab number two
of our product. Moreover, within my media product we conform and develop the genre of
the psychological thriller through our conflicts with threats that are sometimes abstract or
unseen, as in our media product the audience is constantly unaware of the threat that is not
far behind the main protagonist. Additionally, we have developed the traditional compelling
question of who did it, by allowing the audience to be misled into believing that the
opposing person committed the offence, creating tension and providing narrative enigma.
The domestic setting we used in our media product developed the conventional idea of
females trapped in the constraints of male patriarchy, as the male antagonist has more
power over the female through her passive reaction to the male influencing her into taking
drugs – male characters typical of psychological thrillers. Fundamentally, males are
predominantly the foundation of the female’s fragmented psychological state, through the
male’s drive for power and the women’s denial of supremacy, shown through films such as
“Pulp Fiction” where the male character manipulates the vulnerability of the female (screen
grab number two of real media products). Furthermore, the open grass area that we
employed to develop the experiences of paranoia demonstrates how isolated settings on
the peripheries of society have a great impact on the behaviour of the protagonist and their
psychological state; we constructed this to conform to the psychological thriller genre,
shown in screen grab number three of our media product. This is due to the fact that in
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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
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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
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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
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dramatic music to amplify the tension that is demonstrated within the narrative.
Furthermore, the music was developed to set the mood of the entire trailer and like other
media products it helps the audience to fully understand the narrative and recognise where
the problems will occur. The calm, tranquil music to begin with and then the change to the
climatic music corresponds with the tension felt by the audience at each scene of the trailer,
enabling them to, like other media products empathise with the protagonist. We used the
heartbeat sound effect to highlight the suspense building up to the eventual climax; this is
stereotypical of real media products in this genre as they often use heartbeats to
demonstrate the terror and eventual horror as the audience are left to believe that the
antagonist is the main suspect. This to an extent subverts the forms and conventions of
other trailers in this genre such as “Orphan” where music is the central focal point of the
trailer and there are no complexities or recognisable misleading information as the audience
through the music and sounds are able to establish the majority of the narrative. However,
our media product uses sound effects to demonstrate the extreme emotions of the
characters and enhances the confusion of the audience.