In what way does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?
- 1. Inwhat waydoes yourmedia product use, developor challenge forms and conventionsof real media products?
- 2. Story • Our story is a very typical and generic thriller story. It follows a man through his day and later revealed is dark hidden secret. We use a middle aged man which is very generic and decided to make it involve a damsel in distress. In the opening we tried to portray the main character’s characteristics without revealing too much. We see the man at start driving and getting out of his car to go to his house, at the door we see him pull out a handkerchief to open the door. This is very generic most male in psychological thrillers often have a previous issue or obsession in this case ocd. We ended the opening on the man shouting at the door indicating that his secret is out . At this point we wanted the audience to start asking questions and to start wondering and attempt to decipher the enigmas in the opening. We ended the opening on a hook, this is very common within thriller and very well used in many thriller to engage audience and to want them to continue watching the movie.
- 3. Genre • We made sure the opening clearly portray our genre and that different aspect of the opening clearly illustrated our chosen genre. We used thing like sound and music to show that our film is within the thriller genre. The music was very suspenseful and tense and help indicate our genre. We also used music t create a eerie and tense atmosphere. This is a good indicator and will let the audience understand that it is a thriller film. We also used props and costume to help the audience understand that it is within the thriller genre. Thing like the hand clothe at the beginning to open the door help indicate that it is within the thriller genre, it immediately give a message that the main character does not want t get caught which tell that he is hiding something.. Our story/plot also helps to indicate that it is a thriller film, we made sure that the story line was not too complex and can easily link to the psychological thriller genre. We stuck to a convectional plot that easily fell within the thriller genre boundary.
- 4. Setting and location • we used an urban and well populate area to film our opening, it was very important that we made the surrounding look as normal as possible therefore we paid close attention to props and setting. Majority of our filming was done inside and we made sure that the setting was clean to emphasise our main characters disorder (OCD). Using a normal and serine setting is very common with the thriller genre for example the stepfather, they imply a normal live and help create possible enigmas. They leave the audience guessing and leaves them glued to screen and hooks them to the film. We decided not to use an abandoned or isolated area because it did not suit our main character and would not have created the atmosphere we needed. We shot outside and in a few of the room. We decided not to use to many room as it may give too many things and we wanted to create as much enigmas as possible. We also decided to use a lot of indoor shot because it suited our story line and also shooting outside there might be too many sound around and the weather could inevitable disrupt our shooting which may mean and error in the area of continuity.
- 5. Title (Font style and size) • The title of our film was the last thing that we did. We decided to make it plain and a good size, we had to consider it effect on the audience and make sure that it was easily visible to the audience. We used a plain white colour so it could suit our thriller and using multiple colours will may make it look unserious and unprofessional. We also decided to make the title a medium size and like many thriller we decided that it should come up after the opening. This has a more gripping effect and we wanted it to have a lasting effect on the audience and for them to remember it through the film. At first we decided that it should appear onscreen during the film similar to The stepfather, however after viewing it we decided that it didn’t suit our film and they appeared individual on a black screen would have a better effect, which is also very common within thrillers.
- 6. Costume and props • When did not use many costume and many character did not really appear onscreen however when choosing some of our costumes we deciding on using a suit. This suited our characters persona and also is a very generic thriller customer and is very commonly used. Although it is most common with gangster thriller it still suited our thriller and adapted well and help us build character. As for the female(damsel in distress) she dressed very plainly and roughly to show her situation and position within the film. As a damsel distress we made sure that she look very distresses and rough. We used props like knife and fork, rope and a dinning table to again create a normal atmosphere and create more enigma.
- 7. How characters are introduced • We introduced the first character onscreen at the beginning of the film. We see him in a car and exiting the car. This way the audience can get a feeling of normality. We choose that at this point he should be wearing plain clothes, this way we are not giving too much away and also when the audience see him they will start to wonder and will already try and solve enigmas. The introduction of a normal person on a daily everyday run is very common in thriller and often used for example the step father similarly he is seen doing everyday errand like shaving to create the atmosphere. Character are commonly introduced with a façade and we do not get a feeling of their true character which is what we tried to established. Then eventually during the course of the film his true character begins to show and then the audience can see him for who he is. We introduced the female in the film trough a close up. This give the audience an enigma and do not know her full story which help create tension and suspense.
- 8. Camera and editing • We used a variety of camera shot and editing techniques that are very generic and common within a thriller film. We used sow paced editing so the audience can take in every action that happens in the film and they can understand can really see what was happening and try to figure out the enigmas. We use many close up to focus on the characters face and to show his very bland and plain emotion to the audience. We also decided to use a montage to show him dressing up, this is to highlight his transition and his change into the protagonist in the film. We used zoom to highlight what was happening and also to show the transition from the picture to actual eye. This help use build enigma and suspense.