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

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

The task:

Our task was to create a thriller opening in a small group where every member has to take up a role such as acting, editing and location managing. Before we started filming, we had to do some research into the micro-elements and how they were used in thrillers to create meaning and response. After this we were then put into small groups with people of different abilities and put our ideas together. We then explored different ideas which then helped us to create a questionnaire to find out what our target audience would want to see from us. The questionnaire helped us on our decisions as we found out what people wanted to see and all their preferences within a thriller movie. We then decided on our final idea and agreed on which parts of each group members ideas we would use. We put these ideas into a storyboard and commenced our filming. After filming we edited our footage and then implemented our original soundtrack.

Does my thriller follow conventions of a thriller?

I believe that my thriller does follow conventions of a thriller. The audience can automatically identify our film as a thriller due to the manner in which we incorporated mise en scene. Generic conventions of a thriller movie can contain various factors such as iconography in the weapons used and locations or could follow a certain theme such as obsession, which is what my group utilised.  Carrying out research and analysing other successful thriller films has helped me to see that many thriller films contain the same generic conventions in order to have a significant effect on the audience. Moreover, thriller films tend to depend on their micro-elements in order to inflict a great impact on the audience.

Generic conventions of a thriller

The use and following of generic conventions helps the audience to determine which genre a film belongs to. My group followed the generics of a thriller therefore the audience could identify it as a thriller due to many factors such as the manner in which we incorporated mise en scene. These conventions are the reason for the use of many themes such as iconography such as weapons or following a kidnap scene which my group followed. The research and analysis of other successful thriller films has supported me in seeing that in order for a thriller to have a big hit on its audience it has to follow the generic conventions of the genre. Moreover, a thriller film also relies on its micro-elements to inflict a significant impact on its audience to product a range of reactions and emotions amongst them. With the inclusion of jumpy and fast-paced scenes as well as edits, the audience are able to empathise with the characters within the film. My thriller being based on obsession and kidnap is conventional due to some of the footage being set in a family household and garden. This makes the audience empathise with the characters.

Generic conventions within my thriller

The usage of low key lighting within my thriller helped the audience to determine if it was a thriller or not. This was present to help create a mysterious and spooky atmosphere which helps in building suspense and tension within scenes. Moreover, having some of the film set in a house helps to build suspense as the audience would originally feel that a home should be safe. This follows a thriller convention as the audience now feel that their views are being twisted in the film. Furthermore, the cinematography we chose to import in our thriller film adds to the genre’s generic conventions. Whilst filming we used various camera angles such as close up sots and long shots. These were used to produce a range of effects and responses within the audience. For example, the close up shot was used to depict the victims’ facial expression and emotions which means that the audience can then be empathetic towards the character.

Conventions of target audience and opening credits

Before the filming process in our thriller occurred, research had to be carried out in order to help us create a highly conventional and successful thriller. In order to achieve this, I was obliged to analyse other thriller scenes and opening credits. This task was carried out to help my group with ideas on how to make our thriller opening conventional to the genre. Part of this was looking at the various micro-elements that contribute to a thriller films and carry out analysis on them. This helped to understand the effect that these can have on the audience which is something we were focussing on incorporating into our own project.  After this task was carried out we then had to look at the reasons behind age certificates and film censorship particularly within thriller films. This helped us to be aware of what would be suitable to include within our thriller. Furthermore, in order to complete this research we looked at popular thriller films such as Scream and analysed its opening scene as well as taking a look at its age rating, why this age rating was chosen and how it was combined with the films narrative. During this task we found that most conventional thriller films have an age rating of either 15 or 18. The content found in some thriller films limit the age that the film can be exposed to. Age certificate 15 films can contain fairly adult scenes and themes, use of hard drugs, strong language, moderate violence and sexual references without detail. My thriller film will be labelled age rating 18 due to the fact that it may disturb younger viewers and has a very vogue theme.

My thriller following a conventional narrative structure

In order to create effective thriller we had to carry out deep research into which narrative theory thriller would be based around such as Vladimir, Propp, Tzvetan, Todorov and Aristotle who all have different theories as well as ideologies on the narrative structuring that goes into a thriller film. The narrative theory that my group decided to use is Aristotle’s theory. Our narrative is a psychological thriller and we decided to use this as we wanted to the audience to relate to our thriller and be very affected by what they will witness in the film.

 

Female victim

 

Location

 

 

Low-key lighting