Eval 1media
- 1. 1. In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms of real media products?
- 2. How the intro/opening sets up the thriller • The introduction for our thriller was greatly inspired by the intro for ‘Transporter’ (2002) directed by Louis Leterrier. Though there are obvious differences in the scene they follow the same idea. Both shots are fairly long, and show the audience a single car, alone in a wide open space. The shot consists of a slow zoom, to help create enigma in the initial scene. However Transporter makes use of a parking lot, we decided a farm barn would be more relatable for our peers are we live in a countryside environment. Both shots feature a car all alone, and it makes the audience ask questions such as “Why is there?” “What is it doing?”
- 3. Misc en Scene • The misc en scene also quickly dictates the genre that the film will be. As soon as the audience see the character come on screen, holding a shotgun they can assume that it will be a thriller/horror genre. Also, in sync with the shot of the character, is the soundtrack. The soundtrack we chose consists of a slow piano and some strings, creating a bleak, sad atmosphere within the intro, further confirming the genre of the intro. • The enigma is also built up further in this scene as the character is facing away from the camera, and he is wearing a large coat, so little is revealed, making the audience ask “who is he?” • The car is still in the centre of the shot, and due to the fact that it is clean, and modern, it is contrasted by everything else in that barn, attracting the audience’s attention further.
- 4. Content • Our thriller intro makes use of conventional thriller shots, and the content seen within those shots, to firmly establish its genre. Alongside the shot of the armed character and the parked car, is newspaper articles and shots of cut out pictures. • This idea was inspired by the intro to ‘Se7en’ (1995) directed by David Fincher. In the image to the right we can see a still taken from the Se7en intro, where we see an image of what we can assume is a target, or a victim. Similarly in our thriller opening we filmed cut outs of various innocent looking ‘Missing’ females. • Both introductions show the images in black and white, to help support the negative atmosphere we find in thrillers, and both shots are close ups. Along with everything I have previously talked about so far, these shots continue to build enigma, as we don’t know who these are pictures of, and why the unknown individual has these pictures in the first place. ‘Se7en’
- 5. Continuity Editing • Throughout the filming and editing of the thriller intro we had to ensure that ‘continuity’ within the opening was maintained. This was ensured by pre-filming storyboarding and then post – editing analysis. It was crucial that we maintained continuity within our opening to keep a sense of realism and ensure that the enigma we were trying to create wasn’t broken down. • Such things as consistent weather, consistent props, steady camera movements, synchronised shot transitions and maintaining the 180 degree rule allowed continuity to be established.
- 6. Props Props are essential in all forms of media, in our thriller opening, the props used help create ambiguity and ensure the genre of the film. In the first shot a tractor can be This is further seen, this helps the audience link reiterated the location to being a farm. through farm machinery being in the shot. Costume can also be classified as a prop, here we can notice wellies The car prop is significant as it and a big coat, which can seems out of place and in also be associated with contrast to the rest of the farmers, furthermore we scene, this also gets the can see a weapon is audience asking questions. being held, creating ambiguity as a result of its links with violence and murder
- 7. Credits Credits are very important in media, and are further used in our project to establish the genre. The film ‘Se7en’ , a successful thriller was the inspiration for our credits. The same black background with sketchy, free-hand writing was used to create atmosphere. We varied the positioning of the text within each title to keep the audience un-settled, similar to the credits in ‘Se7en’.