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

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

 

 

For our media product (thriller opening sequence) we wanted to stay relatively close to the conventions that you would expect from a thriller. We chose to do this as we felt it was important for the beginning of a film to make the genre clear to the audience. To do this we looked at other thrillers, and noted the conventions that make the genre clear. Thrillers are defined as being “a genre of literature, film and television that uses suspense, tension and excitement as the main elements”, so we looked at opening sequences that were effective at building tension and creating a good atmosphere. The opening sequence of Se7en was a big inspiration for our own thriller. It made us realise that to build tension, we needed to use shots that would create mystery, and not make the whole storyline obvious. This draws the audience in and encourages them to keep watching. We used lot of close ups in our thriller like Se7en does. The effect of this is that we can show important characters, and create a sense of the type of character they are (either antagonist or protagonist) through the use of lighting and angles, but close ups do not reveal everything about the character, leaving some mystery for the audience. We also used shadows and silhouettes to create a similar effect, and they also make the shots darker, making the atmosphere tense. We also noticed when looking at thrillers like Se7en, The Dark Knight, Cloverfield and Paranormal Activity, that music was particularly important for creating suspense. Conventionally in thrillers the soundtrack may start off quiet and slow, and rhythm will match a human heartbeat. Then, as the sequence progresses, the music often builds up, getting louder and faster. The effect of this is that the increase in pace may increase the audiences heartbeat, and make them feel that something exciting is about to happen. This is what we aimed to do with our own soundtrack, to make it conventional. Initially we struggled to create a similar effect, and after our first showing the feedback we received made us realise that the music needed to be improved. We went for a tense, atmospheric sound, adding in more layers and effects at the sequence went on, and ended it with a brief silence and one final short, sharp sound which we hoped would make the audience jump and leave them on edge (the kind of feeling an effective thriller would give you). Our characters were also fairly conventional, as our protagonists were female (Becky and me), and our antagonist was male (Jack). These character roles can be seen in films such as Psycho, Se7en and Sleeping with the Enemy. We showed the difference between the two character types through lighting and shot types. Our antagonist was shot with low key lighting to create a lot of darkness and shadow, and our protagonist was shot with slightly brighter lighting to show her innocence. Similarly, we used more low angle shots when shooting the male antagonist to make him appear superior and intimidating, and more high angle shots when filming our protagonist to make her seem vulnerable. A good example of this can be seen in the trailer for Sleeping with the Enemy. The male antagonists is shot with low angles, whilst the female protagonist is filmed from above.
In our thriller, the relationship between the characters is made clearer through the use of framing and spatial relations. The characters are never on screen together, they are always shown as individuals, showing that there is no close relationship between them. However, mirroring each shot, for example seeing Becky walk down the stairs, and then seeing Jack do the same thing adds to the tension, because it seems creepy to see two people with no apparent relationship doing exactly the same things one after the other.